Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden was a special agent that worked in CIA but he made a mistake because he revealed important information about the American government. He escaped and it is supposed that he is hiding somewhere in Russia. Evo Morales, Bolivia´s president, was in Moscow in a convention of gas exporting companies and when he was returning to Bolivia, there were some rumors that in that airplane, was hidden Snowden. When they heard those rumors, the plane had to make a non-planed stop in Vienna, Austria. But France and Portugal, the countries where he was supposed to stop, refused to this making the plane stop in Austria. But before this, Snowden was asking for asylum in Ecuador and after hearing all that is happening right now, Correa is regretting the fact that he was going to give him asylum. Because of what happened in Europe with Morales, the UNASUR (Union de Naciones de America del Sur), decided to have a meeting to decide what to do about this whole issue because they took it as an insult to the whole South America. After the meeting, they demanded a public apology to Bolivia after denying the plane to land on their country.  After everything that is going on, countries like Ecuador or Brasil, have apparently joined together and are all feeling insulted by this. This issue has also brought problems to south America because due to the fact that Ecuador offered Snowden asylum, united states has taken it as betrayal and there is some kind of conflict between both of them and there are some rumors saying that United States is behind this whole issue, and thanks to this, Morales is saying that they won’t regret closing the American embassy. 

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkein, South Africa on July 1918.  His parents were Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa.

He attended primary school in Qunu, were his teacher gave him the name of Nelson; it was a tradition for the teacher to name his students with Christian names. He later attended to a Wesleyan secondary school.

He began his studies for a bachelor of art degree in Fort Hare University and later, he later became involved in politics and studied law in the University of Witwatersrand.

In 1944, Mandela joined and helped found the African National Congress (ANC). By 1947 he appointed the position of a Secretary at the ANC and in 1950, he was appointed as national president.

The same year (1944), he married a nurse called Evelyn Mase. They had four kids together. Two boys, Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe.

In 1958, he got divorced. Later the same year he married his social worker Winnie Madikizela. They had two daughters Zenani and Zindziswa. They later divorced in 1996.

He was imprisoned in 1962 when he led the struggle to replace the apartheid regime. At first he was only imprisoned for five years but later in 1964, he received life sentence. He stayed at Robben Island Prison and later at Pollsmoor Prison in total of 27 years. He left prison in 1990.

In May 1994, after winning with 62% of the votes, he became president of South Africa until 1999. He was the first black president of the country.

In 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Price since he played a leading role in the drive for peace.

In 1998, he married Graça Machel.

Ever since 2004, Mandela has been suffering from depreciating health condition, which worsened in 2011 when he was hospitalized due to respiratory illness. He was recently hospitilized in 2013 and is in bad condition.

(ISABELLA RIVERA)

EGYPT COUP

The Egyptian Armed Forces overthrew the country’s President today ^4th of July, the Islamist, Mohamed Mursi. The Constitution was suspended and they announced that the President of the Constitutional Court, Adli Mansur, provisionally assumes the Head of State. The announcement of the coup d’état was made by the chief of the army and minister of defense, Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, in a speech televised to the country.

The Armed Forces, held by a large segment of the population of Egypt, ended the mandate of Mursi. He was just one year in the presidency of the Arab Country, but the military issued an ultimatum of 48 hours which expired today, for him to redirect its policy that has created a climate of strong social division. He didn’t make any changes in his policy even though he had a warning held by the Armed Forces, so that’s why they make a putsch against him and remove him of power.

After announcing the temporary suspension of the Egyptian Constitution, Al Sisi declared that the President of the Constitutional Court shall call early presidential elections and the new President shall have full power to make constitutional declarations. In the speech to the nation, Al Sisi said that Mursi ‘’did not respond to the demands of the people’’ after the 48 hours ultimatum, declaring he was out of presidency. As a consequence of this, an explosion of joy flooded at Cairo’s Tahrir square, the population was glad a about it and celebrate because the President was out. Even though he was just one year in the Egyptian Presidency, people did not like him because he divide the population socially, and was not likely.

GABRIELA BRAIN 

Google

Google

It is the biggest search engine in the world which was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.Google was firstly created as a research project in 1996.




Before Google got its name, it was called ‘’BackRub’’. The name Google originated when they misspelled the word googol which would represent that the search engine was going to provide a large quantity of information. Its name was finally registered in 1997 and later finally incorporated as a private company the 4th of September of 1998. Its first commercial office space consisted in a staff of eight people who worked in Palo Alto in 1999. By 2012, there were more than 70 different international offices in 40 different countries. "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."  It is used worldwide and can be translated in about 35 different languages.

ISABELLA RIVERA

The Internet

Facebook 

Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, which was a student in Harvard University. The idea of creating this page was for the students in the university in order so they can share their feelings and ideas. This idea wasn`t new because David Bohnett created Geocities in the end of 1980. Nowadays, Facebook has got almost 900 millions of users. In the years 2007- 2008, Facebook was translated in spanish and was expanded through all latin America. 

Youtube

Youtube is a website where people from all around the world can upload and share videos. It was created by three old workers of PayPal in February 2005. In October 2006 was acquired by google inc. in exchange of 1650 millions of dollars and but it is still working as youtube and hasn’t change the name. The first video to be uploaded was one called “Me At The Zoo” which shows one of  the co-founders Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. This video was uploaded on April 23, 2005 and can still be shown.

 

The First Computer

In 1946, John Mauchly  and John Presper Eckert develop the ENIAC ( Electrical Numerical Integratos And Calculator). In one second the ENIAC could make 5,000 additions,357 multiplications or 38 divisions.John Mauchly had  created several calculating machines years before , some with small electric motors inside but the best one was the ENIAC and is now recognize as the first computer.

The ENIAC contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, and with 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 1,500 relays, 6,000 manual switches and 5 million soldered joints. it occupied 167 square meters of space in the floor, weighed 30 tons and consumed 160 kilowatts of electrical power.In total, the ENIAC solved 100 scientific problems in his lifetime

Here is a timeline to show how the computer developed by the pass of the years and how many computers they made after creating the one that is useful in these days.

Computer History Year/Enter	Computer History Inventors/Inventions	Computer History Description of Event
1946	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer	20,000 vacuum tubes later...
1948	Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube	Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories.
1947/48	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & Wiliam Shockley The Transistor	No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers.
1951	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly UNIVAC Computer	First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners.
1953	International Business Machines IBM 701 EDPM Computer	IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.
1954	John Backus & IBM  FORTRAN Computer Programming Language	The first successful high level programming language.
1955 (In Use 1959)	Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America, and General Electric ERMA and MICR	The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks.
1958	Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce The Integrated Circuit	Otherwise known as 'The Chip'
1962	Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game	The first computer game invented.
1964	Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows	Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end.
1969	ARPAnet	The original Internet.
1970	Intel 1103 Computer Memory	The world's first available dynamic RAM chip.
1971	Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor	The first microprocessor.
1971	Alan Shugart &IBM The "Floppy" Disk	Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1973	Robert Metcalfe & Xerox The Ethernet Computer Networking	Networking.
1974/75	Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers	The first consumer computers.
1976/77	Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers	More first consumer computers.
1978	Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software	Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.
1979	Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software	Word Processors.
1981	IBM The IBM PC - Home Computer	From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution
1981	Microsoft MS-DOS Computer Operating System	From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century.
1983	Apple Lisa Computer	The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface.
1984	Apple Macintosh Computer	The more affordable home computer with a GUI.
1985	Microsoft Windows	Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple.
SERIES	TO BE	CONTINUED

Bill Gates and Microsoft

William Henry ''Bill'' Gates is an American bussiness magnate, investor, programmer and inventor. He is the fundator of the company of Microsoft, the world's largest personal - computer software company, with the bussiness man Paul Allen. He is recently the richest man in the world with an estimate fortune of 72.7 thousand million dollars. He is married to Melissa Gates, and apart of sharing a life, they also share the Foundation of Bill and Melissa Gates, a company dedicated in the reconstruction of education and health locally, and especialized in regions of lower class. 

Bill Gates created the company of the software of microsoft in the year 1975, when he was still a student at the University of Harvard also with his later partner, Paul Allen. The next year, 1976, he abandoned University and moved to Albuquerque, a city in the E.E.U.U. to learn more about the system of the computers. The next year, he received the notice about the success of the company of Apple. He was allied with a lot of companies such as IBM (International Bussiness Machines) who really need him in order to beat apple so this help him to develop his software. 

While Apple had already develovep the mouse for the computer, Bill Gates decided to develop it too. While Steve Jobs (owner of Apple) was starting the development of Macintosh (is the name given to any personal computer designed, developed, built, marketed and sold by apple), Gates visited Apple. This was a manuever from Microsoft towards Apple because there Gates offered Apple to improve their spreadshits and other programmes and also he threat them on selling their computer equipment to IBM. As a consequence of this, he obtain to firm an Microsoft - Apple alliance. 

Microsoft reached to obtain the technology to create the mouse for the computer and then, release to the market the new Microsoft Windows. Since then, Microsoft Windows have been the OS used in almost every personal computer in the world in every version. 

                                                           LOGO OF MICROSOFT WINDOWS

Sudan (Darfur)

Geography

Brief History of Darfur,Sudan

In 1820 Sudan is conquered by the Ottoman empire. 62 years later, Great Britain invades Sudan and in 1899 it is under the rule of Great Britain and Egypt. In 1956, they become independent and are ruled by the Khartoum, ruled by the northern arabs. in 1962 the civil war break between the Khartoum and the separatists of the south who were mostly Christian. After a couple of years a majour company discovered that in the southern part of Sudan there was an existence of oil.

In 1983 the civil war between the south and the north breaks again and continues for the next two decades, killing almost two million people. The National Islamic Front takes control of the military coup. In 1991 Osama Bin Laden moves to Sudan, where he would be living for almost four years. In 1993 Omar al- Bashir becomes president and in 1997 the U.S., puts economic sanctions on Sudan because it is considered a state sponsor of terrorism. In response from the attack from Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. launches missile attacks on Khartoum chemical plant which was acused of producing weapons.In 1999 Sudan starts exporting oil, and in 2003 the Rebel Groups decide to rise up because they were angry about the neglection from the central government.

Also in 2003, the Janjaweed militians do a campaign called "Scorched Earth" and they began to rape women, set villages on fire, steal shops, etc. In 2004, U.S. declares the Darfur Genocide, calling it "crimes against humanity".In 2006 Chad breaks all ties with Sudan because of the evidence saying that the government was supporting the rebels against Chad. in 2007, Bush imposes new sanctions on Sudan. 2006-2007 Sudanese economy is booming thanks for the oil, despite the fact of the crisis. May 2008, rebels from Darfur attack Omdurman. And in the 28 may 2008 John Kennedy becomes the first U.N. peacekeeper to be killed.

(PAULA VAN GINHOVEN)


What Happened?

In 2003, two opposition groups in Darfur: the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), also known as the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rose up against the government led by President Bashir. They accused Khartoum, capital of Sudan, of oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs as well as lack of supprt during prolonged droughts and near famine conditions. It all began when opposition groups attacked military installations.

On the opposing side of the conflict, there are the Arab Janjaweed. Most people believe they are being supported by the government since it has done little to stop the violence of this group. However, the government denies any connection with them.
Since the 2003 attack, violence has spread all over the region. There was aerial bombing involved which destroyed hundreds of villages and not only killed many people but also left them homeless.

There is an estimation that tgere are now about thirty opposition groups in Darfur which compete with each other for influence and power.

(ISABELLA RIVERA)


Role of Media in this conflict

The Media in Darfur didn't want to show what was really happening. The government millitaries were killing many innocent people and would harm anyone who they though was the opposition.
The role of media is very important since they control everything and at the end are the ones who will manipulate others to help. With the media being biased, no one could really believe what they were saying.

Rwanda

Geography 

Rwanda is located in Central Africa, to the east of Republica of the Congo.Rwanda has a area of 26 thousands square kilometers, and 3% is water.Is covered by grassland and has small farms over rolling hills.Some mountains on the southeast tha come from a chain of volcaones in the northwest

Rwanda is located only two degrees south of the equator, the rainy seasons are between febraury and may and between september and december.Rwanda has a lot of natural resources such as,gold,cassiterine,wolframite, methane, cofee, tea and arable land.

 uncontrolled deforestation for fuel, overgrazing, soil exhaustion and widespread poaching is affecting Rwanda´s environment.

Brief History 

The population of Rwanda is divided into three etnic groups, The Hutu's (85%), The Tutsi's (14%) and The Twa (1%). Tutsi generally occupied the higher class in the social system and the Hutu the lower, making both groups fight for the power of the country. The Tutsi had the advantage that Belgium took care over them, but it all changed when Germany was forced to leave the country, leaving them with no defence. As the Hutus were the majority of the population, they took advantage and aim to become the only racial group in Rwanda, eliminate this 15% of population by causing genocide.

All this began in 1962 when the King Tutsi died and the Hutus took the power. Millions of Tutsi were exiled from their lands, which started strong ethnic tensions among the races. 
In 1994 the Hutu government felt threatned by the invasion of the Tutsis and because of that it began the most recent genocide of this century. 

The murder of the President Rwandese make the Hutus take advantage of the situation and try to get rid of all the Tutsis by burning their houses and killing them. Million of women were rapped and the children became orphans. In only 100 days of war, it was estimated that 800 people between both ethnic groups were killed. 

Nowadays, the present government of Rwanda has eliminate this ethnic groups and make all one self race to avoid more fights of differences. Now, people have ejected professions and live in liberty and work day by day to forget the events occurred years ago and instead, look forward to the future

Different races in Rwanda. You can notice in the picture that the Hutus have a darker skin colour, more black than the Tutsis. 

















What Happened?

Genocide timeline:

1918: The belgians had the control of rwanda.
1933: The belgians declare the division of ethnic groups separating them by Hutus,Tutsis and          Twa.
1948: The United Nations declared genocide as a crime under internation law.
1959:Hutus rebelion started against the government and Tutsis
1962: Rwanda is independant

1988:The RPF ( Rwandan Patriotic Front) was created in Uganda.

1990: RPF invades rwanda causing a civil war.

1994:

•  Rwandas president is killed and Hutus took advantage to attack its opponents (Tutsis)
•   A lot of masacres occur during april,and all of them are against tutsis, killing them and leaving them with no resources.
• At the end of April after an aproximate of 250,000 people killed,Tutsis were able to leave the country to the neighbour country Tanzania.
• The French people established  a safe zone in the southwest corner of Rwanda.
• Mid-july genocide ends when the RPF took control of the country.
  

Role of Media

Media played a significant part in both external and internal positions in this conflict .During genocide the newspaper and the radio were used carefully towards the Tutsis because mainly all information was from Hutus part. Radio was used by the Hutu extremist to mobilise the Tutsi, and to communicate to coordinate the killings and ensure their plans of extermination were succesful. 

 

 

(TAIS AND GABRIELA)