Breaking the Bubble

Kerong Kelly and Madeline Diamond, News Editor and Assistant News Editor
January 31, 2014

International 

The Egyptian military authorized Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to run for president on Jan 27. Ninety-eight percent of votes were cast in favor of a referendum on a revised constitution considered to indicate support for Sisi’s leadership. (New York Times)

The Afghan government issued the release of 37 prisoners who are, according to the NATO coalition, responsible for Afghan and American deaths. This resolution increased tensions between President Hamid Karzai and the United States (New York Times).

South Korea proposed an idea to North Korea that would reunite elderly family members that were separated by the Korean War for a week in February. This will be the first time some families have been united in six decades (New York Times).

Thousands of Thai people were prevented from voting because of anti-government protests in Bangkok, . Their protests are in favor of removing democracy and replacing it with a “people’s council” (New York Times).

The prime minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, offered to resign on Jan. 28 due to an impending vote of no confidence in Parliament that would have removed him from office (New York Times).
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said that he would consider an Israeli military presence in the West Bank for a three-year transition period as a continuation of peace talks (New York Times).
National
In his fifth State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced an ongoing initiative to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors. All contractors under such government contracts are ensured to be paid no less than $10.10 an hour (CNN).
Pete Seeger, contemporary folk musician and activist died Jan. 27 at the age of 94 (CNN).
Republican representative of Florida, Trey Radel, will resign due to misdemeanor charges of buying cocaine (New York Times).

Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem, from two different Bitcoin exchanges, were arrested in the United States for scheming to sell more than $1 million in Bitcoins to an online drug market called “the Silk Road.” (BBC).

Grammy Awards receive more than 28 million viewers, a number broken only once in 2012 since 1993 (New York Times).

N.Y. Democratic Senator, Charles Schumer proposed “Avonte’s Law” on Jan 26. The bill will fund optional GPS tracking devices for children with autism. The bill is in honor of Avonte Oquendo, a N.Y. teenager with autism who disappeared in October. The $10 million program would be overseen by the Justice Department. Such technology is used by adults with Alzheimer’s (Wall Street Journal).

Major Internet companies have created a deal with the Obama administration that will inform the public about how the government collects data on their consumers according to the Justice Department (Wall Street Journal).

Maryland teenager Darion Aguilar shot and killed two people before killing himself at a Columbia mall on Jan. 25 (CNN).

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