How has this happened? How can it be the end of the semester?
Thinking of expatriating yourself after this fall?
For our last newsletter, the staff has decided to find out info.
on other countries...what's life like out there? We looked for
information about healthcare, education, military, and government
from countries all over the world.
Notice the exciting workable weblinks (finally figured that one out)!
Germany
As Europe's most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. Germany has the following military branches: Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine; including Naval Air arm), Air Force, Joint Support Service and the Central Medical Service. Though men must be at least 18 years of age or older, the German military has men in their mid to late forties. With over thirty billion dollars invested in their military, the German army remains a force to be reckoned with.
Once regarded as the economic giant of Europe, the German economy has fared much less well in the new millennium. Unemployment is high and growth is low. In the immediate aftermath of the 11 September attacks, Germany supported Washington's campaign against international terrorism and sent peacekeepers to Afghanistan. But Germany subsequently voiced strong opposition to the US-led war on Iraq, insisting that weapons inspectors be given more time to complete their mission.
-derek
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1047864.stm
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica is a republic in Central America, which has been a stable and democratic country in an otherwise turbulent continent. Costa Rica has no military. It was abolished in 1949 after a civil war, and since then they only have a domestic police force. The first president Jose Maria Castro was a former teacher and dedicated to make education both free and obligatory, and as a result Costa Rica is the most literate population in Central America. Costa Rica’s has a low infant mortality and its life expectancy is higher than wealthier countries. Health care provision is a governmental responsibility and the causes of illness and death is no longer infections and malnutrition but chronic diseases. Costa Rican health care used to be the best in Latin America, but the issue of bribes to get around hospital waiting lists is a big problem. Public opinion is demanding for health care reforms to make the system more equal, since the poor are loosing out.
-Emma
SCANDINAVIA
Scandinavia consists of three northern European countries. These are Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Sweden is the largest of the three with a neutral military power. The country decided to remain outside of NATO despite heated debates from surrounding nations pushing them to join. Its army is a governmental agency with the purpose to defend itself if threatened, but its foreign policy is focusing on democracy and human rights instead of military alliances. Denmark and Norway are part of NATO, and all three countries have UN troops positioned in the Balkan region to sustain peace and stability. Education is key to the Scandinavian welfare model. A free and obligatory school system is in these countries believed to improve and increase the workforce, to lower unemployment and to distribute income relatively equally. The health care system in Scandinavia has been paid for by the state so that all citizens, regardless of income, can get medical treatment. However, privatization is increasing and leading to more expensive medications and longer waiting lists.
-Emma
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Thursday, December 02, 2004
International Newsletter #7
Guantanamo Bay
On Tuesday, November 30, 2004 The International Committee of the Red Cross declared that terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, an American military base in Cuba, are being mistreated.
In a report to the U.S., officials at the ICRC acknowledged that military personel at Guantanamo Bay employ both psychological and physical coercion in handling detainees.
The allegations were denied by White House press secretary Scott McClellan. “We strongly disagree with any characterization that suggests the way detainees are being treated is inconsistent with the policies the president has outlined,” said McClellan.
Visiting Guantanamo Bay in June, the ICRC found that U.S. authorities break the will of the prisoners, using humiliation, solitary confinement, temperature extremes and force positions. The ICRC also discovered that doctors were telling interrogators about the weaknesses of the prisoners, thus violating the medical ethics code.
The accusations have prompted the creation of the Office of Detainee Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense, to investigate U.S. military treatment of prisoners at the facility.
-Jenny
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,4645049,00.html
Turmoil in the Ukraine
For the past couple of weeks the Ukraine has been experiencing even more election tumult than the U.S. in 2000. Since Monday, Nov. 22 the country has been drowning in a bitter dispute over the election results which named the sitting Prime minister, Yanukovych, the winner over his opponent, Victor Yushchenko.
Tens of thousands camped out in the streets in the capital, Kiev, to protest the results; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced last week that the U.S. wouldn’t accept the results, claiming that there was significant evidence of fraud; a Ukrainrian pop star went on a hunger strike; the opponent, Yushchenko, called for a national strike to protest, and filed an appeal with the Ukrainian Supreme court; 200,000 protestors marched on Ukraine’s parliament; and there was great concern that the emotional situation would come to bloodshed.
This week, the two rivals have signed an agreement to let the courts decide what is to be done about the election results and Yushchenko has lifted his call for a blockade.
You can follow the events unfolding dayly at: www.cnn.com.
-Kristin
Company Abuses EU Free Travel For Cheap Labor
According to the Latvian newspaper, Latvian Times, a Latvian construction company is accused of abusing the European Union’s (EU) free travel agreement for cheap labor. The construction company is called Laval un Partneri and is currently in conflict in Sweden.
A Swedish local trade union of construction workers is planning a boycott on Dec. 2. The purpose of the boycott is to protest against the construction company’s strategy of using underpaid Latvian workers in Sweden.
The travel agreement allows EU members to travel without passports across borders. The company makes a profit from excluding Swedish workers who are used to much greater pay by hiring poor Latvians to build high standard Swedish homes. Similar use of the EU’s free travel agreement also causes drug trafficking, child prostitution and use of women as slaves.
For more Latvian news: www.baltictimes.com
-Emma
Will Sardines Save Our Skin? www.nytimes.com
Scientists working off the west coast of Africa have identified sardines as an unexpected factor in global warming. The fish are not acting like cattle or termites, whose gassy emissions add heat-trapping methane to the atmosphere. Sardines improve the situation, the researchers say. Or they might, if they were not over-fished.
When sardines are plentiful, they gobble up ocean phytoplankton, tiny plants that appear in vast numbers when ocean currents produce upwellings of deep water. But when sardines are scarce, the phytoplankton survive uneaten, only to sink to the bottom, decompose and produce methane and hydrogen sulfide gas that rise to the surface in giant clouds.
The researchers suggest that warming pressures make the nutrient upwellings more frequent and more intense, which, in the absence of sardines, means more and larger eruptions of methane, which in turn contribute to even more warming. The study demonstrates that over-fishing of one species of fish can profoundly alter an entire marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, sardines are not as commercially important as some other species; federal governments are not that interested in them.
-Jane
On Tuesday, November 30, 2004 The International Committee of the Red Cross declared that terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, an American military base in Cuba, are being mistreated.
In a report to the U.S., officials at the ICRC acknowledged that military personel at Guantanamo Bay employ both psychological and physical coercion in handling detainees.
The allegations were denied by White House press secretary Scott McClellan. “We strongly disagree with any characterization that suggests the way detainees are being treated is inconsistent with the policies the president has outlined,” said McClellan.
Visiting Guantanamo Bay in June, the ICRC found that U.S. authorities break the will of the prisoners, using humiliation, solitary confinement, temperature extremes and force positions. The ICRC also discovered that doctors were telling interrogators about the weaknesses of the prisoners, thus violating the medical ethics code.
The accusations have prompted the creation of the Office of Detainee Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense, to investigate U.S. military treatment of prisoners at the facility.
-Jenny
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,4645049,00.html
Turmoil in the Ukraine
For the past couple of weeks the Ukraine has been experiencing even more election tumult than the U.S. in 2000. Since Monday, Nov. 22 the country has been drowning in a bitter dispute over the election results which named the sitting Prime minister, Yanukovych, the winner over his opponent, Victor Yushchenko.
Tens of thousands camped out in the streets in the capital, Kiev, to protest the results; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced last week that the U.S. wouldn’t accept the results, claiming that there was significant evidence of fraud; a Ukrainrian pop star went on a hunger strike; the opponent, Yushchenko, called for a national strike to protest, and filed an appeal with the Ukrainian Supreme court; 200,000 protestors marched on Ukraine’s parliament; and there was great concern that the emotional situation would come to bloodshed.
This week, the two rivals have signed an agreement to let the courts decide what is to be done about the election results and Yushchenko has lifted his call for a blockade.
You can follow the events unfolding dayly at: www.cnn.com.
-Kristin
Company Abuses EU Free Travel For Cheap Labor
According to the Latvian newspaper, Latvian Times, a Latvian construction company is accused of abusing the European Union’s (EU) free travel agreement for cheap labor. The construction company is called Laval un Partneri and is currently in conflict in Sweden.
A Swedish local trade union of construction workers is planning a boycott on Dec. 2. The purpose of the boycott is to protest against the construction company’s strategy of using underpaid Latvian workers in Sweden.
The travel agreement allows EU members to travel without passports across borders. The company makes a profit from excluding Swedish workers who are used to much greater pay by hiring poor Latvians to build high standard Swedish homes. Similar use of the EU’s free travel agreement also causes drug trafficking, child prostitution and use of women as slaves.
For more Latvian news: www.baltictimes.com
-Emma
Will Sardines Save Our Skin? www.nytimes.com
Scientists working off the west coast of Africa have identified sardines as an unexpected factor in global warming. The fish are not acting like cattle or termites, whose gassy emissions add heat-trapping methane to the atmosphere. Sardines improve the situation, the researchers say. Or they might, if they were not over-fished.
When sardines are plentiful, they gobble up ocean phytoplankton, tiny plants that appear in vast numbers when ocean currents produce upwellings of deep water. But when sardines are scarce, the phytoplankton survive uneaten, only to sink to the bottom, decompose and produce methane and hydrogen sulfide gas that rise to the surface in giant clouds.
The researchers suggest that warming pressures make the nutrient upwellings more frequent and more intense, which, in the absence of sardines, means more and larger eruptions of methane, which in turn contribute to even more warming. The study demonstrates that over-fishing of one species of fish can profoundly alter an entire marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, sardines are not as commercially important as some other species; federal governments are not that interested in them.
-Jane
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