** Influenza AH1N1 **

1. What is an epidemic?
*An epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease occur in a given human population, during a given period, substantially exceed what is "expected," based on recent experience.

2. What is a pandemic?
*It is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide.

3. What is an infectious disease?
*It is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions.

4. What is a virus?
*It is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect all types of cellular life.

5. What makes the H1N1 virus a "novel" or "new" virus?
* It has been recently discovered, and it is a new virus that is spreading from person-to-person, sparking a growing outbreak of illness in the United States. An increasing number of cases are being reported internationally as well.

6. How do viruses mutate?
*The only way they can reproduce is by infecting a cell.
*Cells change their surface receptors so viruses cannot attach; the viruses change their surface proteins so they can attach to the changed cell surface receptors.
*The viruses must always stay ahead of the evolution game.

7. What does it mean that this virus has "parts" from other known swine flus, human flus and American bird flus?
*Because it has similar synthoms and there have been epidemics/pandemics of flu viruses which humans have little immunity to in the past, it is believed that they might combined and cause a terrible disease.


8. How does that process happen?
*In the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.


9. How is the flu vaccine created?
*Right now, there are only experimenting with them and there are real vaccines.

10. Why are some viruses transmittable from human to human while others are not (avian flu)?
*Because in the case of birds, it would need few mutations to spread rapidly between mammals by respiratory droplets.

11. How does Tamiflu work?
*"The virus is still able to replicate inside a cell, but is unable to get out and infect other cells."

12. Scientists worry that H1N1 might become resistant to Tamiflu. How might that happen?
* They would have to reduce the doses.

1. What is the most predictable thing about influenza?
*The way that the viruses that cause it are created.

2. How many people have died in Mexico? (based on the article as well as on latest news)
*66 people confirmed until now.

3. Name 3 countries where swine flu has been confirmed in the last three days.
* India, Malaysia and Turkey

4. What are the symptoms of the swine flu?
*Fever (usually high)
*Headache
*Tiredness (can be extreme)
*Cough
*Sore throat
*Runny or stuffy nose
*Body aches
*Diarrhea and vomiting (more common among children than adults)

5. When was the outbreak of the Spanish flu?
* After the WWI in 1918.

6. What percentage of the world population died of influenza then?
*1 % of the global population, about 50 million people.

7. Why was there an emergency vaccination program in 1976?
*Because there was one death.

8. Name a few actions the Mexican government has done to curb the spread of swine flu.
*They closed schools for about 7 days, they closed restaurants and bars. The cinema was also closed. They also made comercials about the hygiene.

9. What were the consequences for Mexico and Mexicans due to the actions taken by the government?
*That the other countries avoid to travel to Mexico, so the tourism is going down.

10. What industries were particularly hard hit?
*Restaurants, Hotels, Bars, museums, etc. All the public places.

1. Mexico has shut down schools and other public spaces; do you think that was the correct thing to do? Why or why not?

* Yes, because then you prevent to transmit the virus between the people that are in contact with each other.


2. More people die from the regular flu then from swine flu, why do you think this became a big news story?

* Yes, because this was not expected.


3. Why did people stop visiting Mexico? Why have Mexicans been discriminated? Do you think the fear of the disease is justified?

*People stop visiting Mexico because they are afraid of swine flu, thats why mexicans are also being discriminated. Yes because I think that without fear, we wont protect and then we could get the flu.


4. What questions about individual and human rights does preventing the spread of flu raise?

*The repression of freedom because we can´t go out.

Plastic Bags

*Why are plastic bags so common?
-People use them to carry things when they buy them, they are also used for the trash because they save the bad smells.

*In what other ways is plastic used?
-Alight in trees, billow from fences like flags, clog storm drains and they are also used as bottles.

*What are the benefits of plastic bags?
-That they are so cheap to produce, sturdy, plentiful, easy to carry and store that they have captured at least 80% of the grocery and convenience store market. Plastic grocery bags are some of the most reused items around the house.

*What are the dangers of plastic bags?
-Their colorants contain some con
-Contamination in the ocean: they are killing the animals that live there.
-Turtles eat them.
-They descompose in about 100 years.

*What has been done so far?
- Recycling them and using them as other items such as bottles and stuff like that. Plastic bags are being downcycled, meaning that they're being put into another product that itself can never be recycled. There are different campaigns for saving the ocean, and cleaning it. But people are still throwing them and making pollution grow.

*Has it been successful? Why or why not?
-In some ways it has, but there are steel a lot of bags floating in the ocean, because people continue throwing them. But there is steel some confusion about it.

a. What are some of the potential benefits of charging fees for and/or banning plastic bags?
- We will helpo to clean the enviroment.
-With the money the win, they could help cleaning lakes and oceans.
-The people will now change and they will start helping cleaning and recycling.

b. What are some of the potential drawbacks of such programs?
-The costs will incriminate and the fabrics of plastic bags will break. People are beign afected bye the economic climate.

c. Which benefits and drawbacks seem the most compelling? Why?
- The most imortant benefit is that people will star carring about our enviroment and the contamination will stop.

d. Would you support a local law charging fees for (or banning) plastic bags? Why or why not?
-Yes i will because I am worred about the contamination that is affecting not only the enviroment, it is affecting all the people. And I could also hepl the economic crisis by re-using the bags.

1. Do you agree with this new law? Why or why not?
-Yes, because making baggs of other materials that can desapear in a little period of time, makes good things for the enviroment, and for the pollution too.

2. What has been done so far?
-They are only proposing what to do, and they are getting together to see what is going to happen.

3. What needs to be done to enforce such a law?
-That pople from fabrics, are interested in helping the Green Party, so that they can colaborate elaborating the new baggs.

4. What campaigns would you suggest?
-To make baggs from organic materials, and that everybody recycles them so that the enviroment would be clean. And to make comercials about how the situations with baggs is affecting the enviroment.

**Teenage Gunman Kills 15 at School in Germany**

*Who?
-A teenage gunman, 17 years old.

*Where?
-WINNENDEN, Germany.

*When?
-March 11th, 2009

*What?
-A teenage gunman killed 15 people, most of them female, on Wednesday in a rampage that began at a school near Stuttgart in southern Germany and ended in a nearby town, where he then killed himself after the police wounded him.

*Why?
-Tim Kretschmer was a 17 year old boy who graduated last year. As the news say, last year he broke off a round of psychological counseling for depression.
Then when they investigated what was the cause of the murder, they find out, that Tim used to play violent games and see violent videos. A phsycologist said that watching those videos where a path for violence. And then, they find out that he used a gun that was his father´s.
Other people say, that he was a normal kid, that could not hurt anyone, but apperances are not always true.

**5 cases**
-In 1927, in Maine, a school board official blew up a school, killing 44 people.

-In 2002, in Eastern Germany, a gunman killed 16 people befeore killing himself at a school in Ertfurt.

-In January 30, 2007 in Nickel Mines, a milk delivery-truck driver, lined up 10 girls in a one-room schoolhouse and opened fire, then he shoot them with a gun humself so that they die.

-In april 16, 2007 in Virginia Tech, shooting left 33 students dead, they where in a dorm and in the classroom building when they where killed.

-In December 12, 2007, six people shot after exiting a schoolbus in Las Vegas, there was a bully kids fight, and the guys where shot when they arrived from the fieldtrip.

News 3

**Russian Welcomes Letter From Obama**
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/washington/04russia.html?_r=2&hp

Who?
*Russia welcomes Obama

Where?
*Moscow, Russia

When?
*March 3, 2009

What?
*The Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said Tuesday that Russia was open to United States overtures on its proposed missile defense plan, but dismissed the notion of a deal in which the United States would shelve the plan in exchange for Russia’s help on Iran.

Why?
*To help Iran. they will have a meeting

News Analysis

1. Who is Robert Mugabe? How long has he been in power? How popular is he?
*Zimbabwe President, he has been in power for 28 years. Now he has a bad image because he has made very bad things to the country, but before he was like a hero.

2. Who is Morgan Tsvangirai? Which is/ has been his political role?
*He is Zimbabwe´s Prime minister, he has been a key in the opposite side of the president.

3. What happened during last year's elections? Which was the outcome?

*The main candidates were: Mugabe and Tsvangirai , and first Tsvangirai was way ahead from Mugabe, but at the end, Mugabe won.

4. Whis is the economic situation in Zimbabwe? How do the people feel about this?
*Now a day, their economic is collapsing. People are starting to act worried, and they stopped the economic activities and they have abandoned the early marketing.

5. What do you think about the celebrations and the lavish party?
*That they spend a lot of money in a party. They should use the money to do other things because of the crisis.

Based only on the article below, define a conflict.
a) Give the conflict a name and explain why you think it is a conflict.
*The economy is Collapsed, it is a conflict because people are loosing their jobs and the crisis is increasing.

b) Who is involved and why?
*Population in Zimbabwe, because they are loosing jobs, and their economy is gettting down.

c) Explain in detail why the conflict has happened.
*The problem is that the president has been in power for 28 years, making the country have problems.

d) Give a timeline of events (at least 5) related to the conflict.
*Jan 8th : Cholera cases reported.
*Feb 10: Cholera spreading from Zimbabwe to South America.
*Feb 21: President´s Birthday #85.
*February 28: Mungabe spent 250 000 in his clebration
*March 1: appealed to the international community to help Zimbabwe's crippled economy.

e) How do you think this conflict can be solved and why?
*To take out Mungabe from the goverment, because he has made a lot of bad things to the country.

Conflict

1. Country name
-Somalia

2. Conflict
-Ethiopia accuses neighbors of supporting an ethnic Somali rebel group that attacked a Chinese-run oil installation this week, killing 74 people.

3. Copy the headlines and the link to a news item reporting on that conflict.
-"Somali conflict crosses borders","Khartoum, Sudan and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia" http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0426/p06s02-woaf.html

4. Summarize the news item in your own words in 5 - 8 sentences. (identify the main ideas) *There is a Chinese oil installation in Ethiopia and it started to fade.
*Tuesday's early morning raid in Ethiopia's remote southeast Ogaden region near the border with Somalia, left 74 people dead, including nine Chinese oil workers.
*Ethiopian analysts say the unprecedented scale of the attack, claimed by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), suggested it could only have been carried out with support from Islamists in neighboring Somalia.

5. Describe the conflict.
- The conflict with the oil installation, people are dying because of the Somali´s attacks.

6. Based on your research
- geography and timeline, explain why the conflict happened. Which ones are the roots of the conflict?
-Ethiopia neighbors are the roots where this cinflict is happening. The conflict happened because people are not happy anymore about the conflicts that having the oil installation mean.

7. Answer:
a) Who is involved in the conflict? -Khartoum, Sudan and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

b) Where is it happening? -Ethiopia

c) When did it happen and how long has it been going on? April 26, 2007 till today.

Pakistan: A Nation Divided

Which is its location? What countries does it border with?
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea, between India and Iran

What does the geography say about the country?
Status of Kashmir with India; border question with Afghanistan (Durand Line); water-sharing problems (Wular Barrage) over the Indus with upstream riparian India.
Climate: mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north

What is the dominant religion?
Islam

Which other exist?
Christianity, Shia, Hinduism, Muslims,Parsis, Shia, Sunni.

What are the different ethnic groups?
Indo-Aryan, Scynthian, Hun, Dravidian, Mongol, Punjabi.

Which ones are the main customs and traditions?

Every family has its tarditional values and respect them as much as their religion.

Men shake hands with each other. Once a relationship is developed, they may hug as well as shake hands. . Women generally hug and kiss. Pakistanis take their time during greetings and ask about the person's health, family, and business success.

This are some of the symbolical days: Pakistan Day, Independence Day, Defence of Pakistan Day, Pakistan Air Force Day.

**Meeting a Pakistan girl** (Pashtun, Buddhist)

How is this his life different from yours?

I can hang out with any type of friends, I also drink, not a lot, but I do. I live alone with my mom and her boyfriend. I also eat pork.

Which custom caught your attention?

That he can´t have sex, and he can´t hang out with friends that are not of their religion.

How does his religion affect his way of acting?

That he can´t do all the stuff he wants to, because some things are prohibited, and maybe he is shy.

**Interview**

How often do you go to a religuous service? Where?

I go every time I have a chance. I go were people need help.

What happens there?

If people are sick, or their are comunities who need food, or spiritual cures we make meditation activities. Our purpose of life is to end suffering. The Buddha taught that humans suffer because we continually strive after things that do not give lasting happiness.

Do you know anyone of a different religion?How do you get along?

Yes, we interact with other teenagers and other people from different religions, and although we have other traditions we get along very nice.

Do boys and girls hang out socially?Do you go to parties?

Yes we do, but we don´t go to parties, we have our own activities with boys and girls form our comunities. And when we are in the age we get maried, when we become woman.

How many people live in your house? How do you interact?

I live in a house with 20 people, we are together because of our meditations. We interact peacefully, because we have a lot of tranquility.

Who goes to school in your family?

Only the boys who are little, and they go to a special school, that toughts them about our religion and customs.

How do you dress?

We dress with long dresses and with happy colors such as red, yellow, green and when we grow up we start using black and brown.

Which ones are your daily chores?

I wake up at 5 o´clock, then i meditate for 2 hours, i finish and then I go to school, after that I have meal with my family and I work at the market selling some fruit, and at night we have dinner all together.

What does it mean to be belong to your ethnic group?

consists of many tribes and clans which were rarely politically united, until the rise of the Durrani Empire in 1747. Pashtuns played a vital role during the Great Game as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires.

Where are your relatives from?

Afghanistan

Do you hang out with people of other ethnicities? How do you get along?

No.

Do you have to marry someone of your same ethnicity?

Yes.

Describe a typical tradition.

Taaqati-Nasiri, states that in the 7th century BC a people called the Bani Israel settled in Ghor, southeast of Herat, Afghanistan, and then migrated south and east. These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed (see Israel and Judah and Ten Lost Tribes), the tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the region. This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtuns.

News 2

Venezuela Will Push U.S. to Hand Over Man Tied to Plane Bombing
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/americas/23venez.html?scp=1&sq=January%2021th%202009%20Fidel%20Castro&st=cse

Who? Venezuela, Cuba and U.S

Where? Caracas, Venezuela.

When? January 23, 2009

Why? Because of a terrorist attack the last January 23th. Venezuela will press the Obama administration in the coming days to extradite a former senior official in Venezuela’s secret intelligence police so that he can be tried for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, according to lawyers for the government here.

What? An airplane crashed killing 73 people including cuban civilization and a 9-year-old Guyanese girl, It was the Western Hemisphere’s first act of midair terrorism, the bloodiest of a series of bombings aimed at weakening Fidel Castro’s government. They are worried and want to fight against terrorism.



Castro 'reflects' on health, praises Obama
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/22/cuba.castro/

Who? Fidel Castro and Obama

Where? HAVANA, Cuba

When? January 22, 2009.

Why? Because Fidel Castro decided to stop publishing the latest edition of his "Reflections" essays that typically are posted on a government Web site the day before they are published in state newspapers.

What?Prior to Wednesday, Castro had not posted an essay since mid-December, and no photographs of him had appeared since November. Once the 50th anniversary of Cuba's revolution passed on January 1 with no comments from the revolutionary leader, rumors circulated that he had fallen seriously ill or perhaps had died.

Differences:

One is talking about Fidel Castro´s government, and the other one is talking about Fidel´s personal life.

Similarities:

Fidel is part of both stories, eventhough in one it only talks about him and in the other one they talk about Venezuela too.

Politicians

1. Silvio Berlusconi: Prime Minister of Italy.

2. Michelle Bachelete: President of Chile.

3. Hillary Clinton: U.S. Secretary of State.

4. Hu Jintao: General of the Communist Partyof China.

5. Álvaro Uribe: President of Colombia.

6. Ehud Olmert: Prime Minister of Israel.

7. Gordon Brown: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

8. Ban Ki Moon: Secretary-General of the United Nations.

9. Nocolas Sarkozy: President of France.

10. George Bush: President of the U.S.

11. Vladimir Putin: Prime Minister of Russia.

12. Fidel Castro: First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.

13. Mahmoud Abbas: President of the Palestinian National Authority.

14. Taro Asso: Prime Minister of Japan.

15. José Luis Zapatero: Prime Minister of Spain.

16. Kim Jong Il: Chairman of the National Defence Comission of North Korea.

17. Barack Obama: President-elecct of the U.S.

18. Dalai Lama: Religious Lider of the Tibet in China.

19. Pratibha Patil: President of India.

20. Thein Sein: Prime Minister of Myanmar.

21. Robert Mugabe: President of Zimbabwe.

22. Hamid Karzai: President of Afghanistan.

23. Raul Castro: President of Cuba.

24. Mohamed Osni Murbarak: President of Egypt.

25. Dmitry Medvedev: President of Russia.

26. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: President of Argentina.

27. Abhihit Vejjajiva: Prime Minister of Thailand.

28. Ignacio Lula da Silva: President of Brazil.

29. Angela Merkel: Chancellor of Germany.

30. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: President of Iran.

31. Asif Ali Zardari: President of Pakistan.

The War between Israel and Caza

Where is Israel?

Israel is located Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon.










Why was Israel created?
During the Holocaust, the killing of approximately 6 million of Jews by the Nazis, had a big impact with the situation in Palestine. During the World War II Britain forbade entry into Palestine for European Jews escaping Nazi persecution. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, in favor of a Partition Plan that created the State of Israel.

Where are the Palestinian Territories?

What is happening in Israel and Gaza?
There is a war going because of territory.

How many Palestinians have died and how many Israelis?
900 Palestians and 13 Israelis up to January 13, 2009.

What is Hamas?
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority. It was created in 1987.

What was the U.S. response to the attacks?
They support the Israeli´s decision to attack Gaza, and they are against the terrorist attacks from Gaza.

What happened when Israel was declared a state in 1948?
The Arabian states that where their neighbors invade them.

What did Israel agree to in the Oslo accords?
Israel committed to withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and agreed that the Palestian Authority had to be set up.

How did Hamas come to power in Gaza?
They won the elections, and they isolate the area because they have a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

To which "old battle" does the article's headline refer?
The one that Israel has been having with Palestine since it was created.

What seem to be the hopes underlying Israel's assault on Gaza?
To prevent a two-state solution, they will have to delegitimize the Hamas’s leadership in the eyes of the Palestinian people and eliminate its power.

How would a clear Israeli victory affect the region?
Countries near Israel will declare common cause against the Islamic militars and to Iran in an easier way.

How would a clear Israeli victory affect the United States?
There will be a restauration with the political control in Gaza, and this will be in hands of a peacekeeping association or force.

Why does Iran have much at stake in the outcome of the current crisis?
It sponsors Hamas and Hezbollah not only to torment Israel but also to spread its influence in the Arab world.

How likely is it that the Israeli assault will be successful?
A convincing defeat of Hamas would undercut that strategy, and presumably Iran’s ability to resist Western pressure in any broad bargaining.

What are some of the divisions in the Middle East that this conflict has highlighted?

Egypt,whose peace treaty with Israel is anathema to militants in the Middle East, kept its border to Gaza largely shut last week, and its president, Hosni Mubarak, quarreled openly with the leader of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant Shiite group that now shares power in Lebanon.

What happened in Lebanon in 1982? How are the Gaza attacks similar?
The Gaza attacks were reminiscent of the gamble Israel took, and largely lost, in Lebanon in 1982. It invaded to eliminate the threat of Yasir Arafat’s forces, which were then encamped on its northern border.

In what ways might the attacks on Gaza backfire?
History suggests that Israel has a lot of probabilities to fail just as it did in lebanon on 1982.

Why does Mr. Abbas say he will walk away from the peace talks begun by President Bush in 2007?
Because fighting was emboldening palestinian resistance.

What lessons has Israel learned from Lebanon?
To lower expectations, and not to claim victory. This time Israel seems more prepared.

In what way is the timing of this renewed battle beneficial?
It came before the inauguration of President Obama.

How will the Obama administration be able to capitalize on the situation in Gaza? On the cease-fire to renew a permanent settlement. He once thought about supporting Hamas, but that is impossible, because President Bush refused to back up a terrorist organization.

**Image**
What is going on in the photograph?
A woman is crying because someone killed one of her relatives in one of the attacks.

Who is pictured?
A woman.

What can you learn about how the main subject in the photo is feeling from his or her facial expression?
I can learn that having peace is one of the most important things in life.

What might this person be feeling, given what is going on in the photograph?
She is sad and scared.

What might this person want to say to the "opposite side"?

To please stop killing people, that tragedies are not a solution.

News 1

Finger Pointing Over Israel and Gaza


Who? Israel and Gaza population.

Where? Israel and Gaza.

When? January 8, 2009

Why? Israeli military action is the source of the problems and counterproductive because it brings Hamas more support misses the crux of the problem.

What? They created a false picture of the situation Israel faces with regard to Hamas.