Vladimir Putin Wins the Russian Presidential Race

On March 4th, it was announced that the Prime Minister of Russia was elected as the president of Russia. Putin has already served two terms as the leader of the powerful country, from 2000-2008. Once he had served the maximum of two consecutive terms as the president, he went to become the prime minister and work under the current Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. However, his return to presidency was not met without criticism. When the votes were tallied at 99 percent, he had already received over 63 percent of the ballots. In the following weeks, many people began to protest his election, saying that the tallies were fixed. Official vote counters commented on the issue, saying that an excessive amount of absentee voter forums were filled out. However, as he spoke to onlookers in Red Square in Moscow, he said that he had won "an open and honest fight".

No matter all of the criticism which has been coming his way, Putin is not with out his supporters. Over 15,000 supporters met the day after his victory was announced to rally for his presidency. While there has been many protesters in Moscow, that does not count for the many other voters in the rest of the very vast country of Russia. He was all chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year, for the stability which he brought to Russia. 

We will see in the following weeks whether the votes were valid, as many other officials are pressuring Putin to comment on the matter.

-Nate Kling

• CNN
• Time
• Guardian.UK
• PressTV

Prado Museum displays unique copy of the 'Mona Lisa'

The Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, displayed a restored version of what is thought to be the earliest known copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting.  Many copies of "Mona Lisa" were painted years later, but this copy is different, because evidence shows that it was painted at the same time and in the same studio as the original masterpiece, probably by one of Leonardo's assistants or students.

The copy shows the same woman and the same landscape, but the restored copy may show the woman as more youthful and vibrant way.  Experts say that this may be because the original masterpiece has been dulled by layers of cracked varnish and there are no known plans to restore it.

"This copy is now one of the most important sources of information for working procedures in Leonardo's studios," the Prado said in a statement.

"The first thing to notice is that the copy is in remarkably good condition and we think that it's a rather faithful rendition of the original," Gabriele Finaldi, the Prado's deputy director told CNN.

Prado officials said much more study will now be done on the copy, including trying to figure out exactly who painted it. There are few likely candidates -- people who were working in Da Vinci's workshop at the time -- but art experts are not yet sure which one might be the artist.

- Amelia Herniglehttp://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/21/world/europe/spain-mona-lisa/index.html?hpt=ieu_bn3

Goal Machine Cristiano Ronaldo

     Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid scores twice against Real Betis keeping him as Campeon Goleador with 32 goals in that season. Real Madrid wins the game and they keep their streak with 11 wins in a row. Real Madrid is also in first place beating Barcelona who was in second by 13 points in la Liga BBVA. The Champions, Barcelona, cut the 13 point gap to 10 after their win against Racing. Real Madrid is in the lead with 70 points and Barcelona is in second with 60 points.

Oh no! Head-On Train Crash Kills 16 Citizens

Link to Video: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/04/world/europe/poland-trains-collide/index.html?hpt=ieu_c2

             Firefighters, paramedics, the FBI and many other types of enforcement managed to climb through several hundred thousand tons of mangled steel wreckage early on Sunday morning searching for survivors. It was not a pretty sight after two passenger trains collided in southern Poland, leaving at least 16 citizens dead.

“An American citizen was among the people that died, as well as 15 other souls”, said a spokesman with the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland.

            One train was on the wrong track going 75 miles per hour making this collision unavoidable. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the accident Poland’s ‘most tragic train catastrophe in years…”. Mr. Tusk arrived at the scene early on Sunday morning along with many other officials and three other cabinet ministers. President Bronislaw Komorowski has said he will announce a period of national mourning after emergency teams have completed their work to remove the wreckage from the track and get trains moving through that area as soon as possible.

            Many train schedules were either delayed or cancelled during this tragic event, causing the train company to lose many customers and members. The train caused damage to nearby buildings bringing even more lawsuits in other than the ones that were filed due to the people that died along with landscaping charges that were filed because of the huge holes carved in people’s lawns by all the flying debris.  Now some good news. Out of the 10 passenger cars and 350 people involved, only 107 were injured and only 16 passed away. The tracks are presumed to be cleaned up by no later than Wednesday, March 15^th.

I’m Jake Grider

Thanks for stopping by J

Interpol Arrests Members of Online Group "Anonymous"

You may have heard of the "hacktivist" group Anonymous recently in the news. Many different recent events, such as the proposal of SOPA, the uprising in Syria, as well as the shut down of media sharing website Megaupload, have caused retaliation from Anonymous. These retributions have ranged from shutting down government websites to threats of releasing sensitive information from "secure" databases. Time and time again, Anonymous has shown its skill in the hacking of advanced websites and databases. One example of this is when Anonymous posted a conference call about their group taken from a secure FBI line. While many times this group is looking to carry out a message about corrupt organizations or other recent immoral ongoings, their actions have received a very strict retaliation from government officials.

Most recently, officers from Interpol arrested 25 people in Europe and South America, and they were officially accused of "carrying out denial of service attacks, defacing websites of political parties, institutions and companies, as well as posting information relating to high-profile figures." These arrests were not announced to be based off any one attack carried out by Anonymous. After Interpol had arrested the 25 individuals, Anonymous responded by taking down Interpol websites briefly. You can follow Anonymous on twitter to follow developments in this story, as well as future plans for their "hacktivist" society.

-Nate

Sources:

• CNN
• CNN
• NPR
• The Guardian

Riot! Athens, Greece Cleans Up It's Streets After a Devastating Riot

     On early Monday morning, in Athens, Greece, tens of thousands of protesters collided with police and S.W.A.T teams during riots that left 106 police officers and dozens of civilians injured.

   This riot, described as one of the worst in Athens since the financial problems Greece began dealing with in 2010, broke out after the Greek Parliament approved a new package of austerity measures in return for a new euro zone bailout on the country’s huge debt. Protesters among a crowd estimated by police at about 80,000 hurled rocks and firebombs toward police.   S.W.A.T officers responded with tear gas and smoke grenades along with high-voltage tasers.  At least 74 people were clubbed and arrested, police said.

            Police said investigators were still estimating public property damages, but the Athens News Agency said more than 45 buildings were damaged by fire and numerous others were looted by the rioters. Damaged buildings included a bank, two cafes and a movie theater, the news agency reported.

            “The violent protests reflect increasing angst in Greece over crushing economic problems,” said reporter Thanasis Trompoukis.

            "They are protesting because they feel that there is no end in their financial suffering. More and more (people) every day are getting poorer and become homeless in Greece, and especially Athens," he said.

Rioters are still being brought to justice and they are being put on trial.

I’m Jake Grider

Thanks for stopping by :)

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport evacuated amid bomb threat

 On February 13, 2012 the dutch police man reported that a man had locked himself in a toilet stall. They had also claimed that he had a bomb with him while he was in the Amsterdam Schipol airport. Because of the incident that occurred with this man, the airport was forced to evacuate. Specifically, the two main International airports at about 11:30. Police and bomb squads also made an appearance at the scene. About four hours later, the two terminals had been reopened. The man says, he had no intention of involving the public. However, that didn't matter because one of Europe's busiest Airports was still affected by this and was forced to shut down. After the man was discovered, investigations occurred by the Dutch border police. They had to examine wether the man continued with explosives in this carry on luggage. This event was shown on Live television, the police were also being shown along with their guns, dogs and heavy duty hard hats. "By 4 pm the Amsterdam airports website was showing 16 cancellations to inbound flights and 11 to departures, dozenz of flights were delayed." It is stated that things are not back to normal yet. But the operation is over and things are getting bak on track.
-Amelia Hernigle
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17011194