Y News #1 Nurin Yubazlan

Egypt Digs Up 3,600-Year-Old Mummy!?

Nurin Yubazlan

24/02/2014

Taken on 13th of Feb. 2014, Credit: Egypt's Supreme Council Of Antiquities

Luxor, Egypt: A Spanish/Egyptian archaeologist team that were working near Luxor's west bank on February, 2014 were shocked when they unearthed a 3,600 year old rare, Sarcophagus along with a mummy inside. If you did not know, a Sarcophagus is a stone coffin and it is associated with ancient civilizations, such as Egypt and Greece. 

According to studies of the Sarcophagus, the mummy dates back to 1600 BC that belonged to the top government high official. It is two-meters, and the mummy still remains inside; and according to Egypt's antiques minister Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, the Sarcophagus was still, in good condition and calls it "Feathers Sarcophagi" because there were feathers on the Sarcophagus. The Feathers Sarcophagi has many unique elements and details on it. It is two meters as said before, and it is forty-two centimeters tall; this is also according to Mr. Ibrahim's observations. The Sarcophagus is carved with hieroglyphics and amazingly still holds its original colors as well as the carvings.

Archaeologists will be continuing to investigate and focus the Sarcophagus and the mummy. Later on, the archaeologists have also unexpectedly discovered two other burials near the Sarcophagus but unfortunately, both of the burials were empty. "It is believed they were robbed in antiquity." says Al-Ahram Online. On the other hand, Egypt's top prosecutor mentioned three Germans to criminal court for the charges of smuggling and damaging antiquities last April. The Germans flew back to their country after the event but Egypt will communicate with Germany to restore the pieces that were taken. 

"Egyptian archaeologist Monica Hanna says the German researchers wanted to use the samples prove their hypothesis in a documentary they later filmed, which says that the pyramids were built by a people that pre-dates the ancient Egyptians. The online documentary, removed in the wake of the controversy, showed one researcher inside the inner chambers of the Khufu pyramid, taking samples from the king's cartouche. Egypt has experienced a security vacuum since its 2011 uprising. Thousands of artifacts have been stolen." -abc News

Source:

•  http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/94168/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Rare-wooden-anthropoid-sarcophagus-discovered-in-L.aspx 
• http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/africa/egypt-mummy-discovery/
• http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spanish-team-egypt-finds-3600-year-mummy-22506342
• http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/14/egypt-archaeologists-find-3600-year-old-mummy/

Java Volcano Erupts Causing Thousands of People to Evacuate

Andrea Jørgensen

Mr. Calic

Humanities

2/24/14

Java Volcano Erupts Causing Thousands of People to Evacuate

                

         On Thursday the main volcano on Java island erupted causing a lot of damage. Thousands of people have evacuated from areas too close to the volcano. Residents of Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Solo and other cities and islands are caught in the danger-zone. The volcano erupted Thursday night and has caused the evacuation of over ten villages.

   

         The authorities had been warning residents near the volcano for a week before it erupted. When the volcano erupted, it destroyed two houses and ash rests on ten villages. “Areas to the west of Mount Kelud, including central Java, Yogyakarta, Cilacap, Magelang, Temanggung and Boyolali are still experiencing showers of ash because last nightthe biggest eruption threw sand and ash 17 kilometers into the west.” – Sutopo Nugroho National Disaster Spokesman.

           

 

36 villages have been asked to evacuate but not many care, since they are used to these eruptions. They are reluctant to leave their property and valuables. At least eleven people were killed earlier this month when mount Sinabung erupted.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/14/us-indonesia-volcano-idUSBREA1D03H20140214

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26183880

Elise Christie looses a silver medal in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

Elise Christie was blamed for causing a crash in the 500m short-track speed skating and was disqualified loosing her silver medal. 

Great Britain's Elise Christie, Italy's Arianna Fontana and South Korea's Park Seug-hi crashed in the 500m skating final. The referee watched the footage and penalized Elise Christie for causing the crash. She was very upset but respected the referee's opinion and later that day apologized. "I totally respect the referee's decision, sorry to the finalist." she tweeted.

After crossing the finish line second Elise dropped her hand on her knees and bowed her head. She was later disqualified placing her last. "The Olympics always throws up controversial results. It is one of these things," Christie's coach, Gooch, said. "It is a race - bumps happen- the referee watches the video and makes a call on it. You can argue but the way the referee looks at it, is that Elise instigated the crash. Clearly she was knocked off the feet by the Italian girl."

Elise had speed so she tried to overtake her opponents. She sped down the inside of the straight but failed to pull out quick enough and Fontana hit her skate. "I used my instincts and went for it. Now I am regretting it," Ms. Christie say holding back tears.

Everyone will have different opinions on what happened but we have to respect each others opinions. As Elise Christie stated "The referee has made a decision and I have to respect that.I do respect it, everyone will have  different opinion on what happened but that is the way short track works."

Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/26173334
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics-2014-heartbreak-for-great-britains-elise-christie-as-silver-medal-lost-in-final-crash-9126036.html

Bomb Attacks in Egypt

A bomb attack on a tourist bus in the Sinai peninsula has killed three South Koreans and an Egyptian.

Fourteen South Koreans were also hurt in the attack, which came as the bus was preparing to cross into Israel. A device was detonated either inside or close to the bus, but exact details are not clear. No-one has admitted carrying out the attack. The Sinai Peninsula has become increasingly lawless since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.

'Beyond deplorable'

South Korea's foreign ministry said on Monday that the bus was carrying 31 tourists, plus three tour guides - two Korean and one Egyptian. Those who died were the two South Korean tour guides and another South Korean tourist, and the Egyptian driver.

No group has said it carried out the attack

Fourteen other South Koreans were taken to hospital. The passengers were members of a church organization on a 12-day tour of holy places in Turkey, Egypt and Israel.

No one actually knows why the bomb when off. One person has said that a man threw some sort of device under the bus. South Korea would "actively co-operate" with the Egyptian government to find out who carried out the attack, he said.

"We strongly condemned the terror attack against the tour bus... It is beyond deplorable," South Korean foreign ministry official Cho Tai-young said in a statement.

Strategic shift

The frontier was closed after the attack.

Mr Morsi appeared in court on Sunday to face charges of espionage and conspiring to commit acts of terror. In addition, gunfire was reportedly heard soon after the blast, and more than 30 ambulances raced to the scene.

The nearby 19th Century Islamic art museum was also damaged. "The building has been destroyed from the outside, but with regards to the antiquities we'll have to wait and see until we can carry out a thorough inspection," said Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.

Six people were killed and some 100 others wounded, with the biggest blast outside Cairo's police headquarters. The reasoning’s behind these bombings has something to do with the uprising against Muslim brotherhood members.

The group previously claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a security building in the northern city of Mansoura in December that killed 16 people and injured more than 100 others.

An angry group gathered outside the bombed police headquarters, accusing the Islamist movement of being behind Friday's attacks. Some shouted: "Death to the Muslim Brotherhood". The Muslim Brotherhood condemned what it called the "cowardly bombings".

Brotherhood supporters and security forces clashed in Cairo and several other provinces on Friday, with at least ten people reported dead. The interior ministry said it had arrested 111 people, saying they were "Brotherhood elements" who were "trying to provoke riots". The Brotherhood has regularly held protests since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.

Sites:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26217380
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25874370

Luka Dragoljic Article #1 - Hell in Australia

Hell in Australia

While following the tennis tournament “Australian Open”, I have noticed that the heat was unbearable for the tennis players and that some matches were interrupted since the temperature was too high. Some players even lost consciousness! In parts of Australia much worse things happened because of high temperatures. Fires were savagely burning over many parts of Australia, it was like hell…

I was following the situation in the Australian state of Victoria and a little bit in New South Wales. During only several days, more than 30 houses have burned in the fires. Only ashes were left in many places in the Australian state of Victoria. The fire came close to threatening Melbourne itself, the second largest city on the continent.

The premier of Victoria, Denis Naptin, said on February the 10^th that six fires were still burning. One of those fires was only 40 km away from Melbourne. It burned tens of thousands of acres and was likely to enlarge and cause major damage.

The people who lived in those burned homes said that their home "exploded" in flames. The fire fighters fought strenuously against the upcoming hell and fortunately they have rescued about 550 homes from burning in suburban Keilor, which is located near the Melbourne airport.

Extreme high temperatures often cause fires and great problems to the residents of those parts. This summer, the Australian state of Victoria saw the most dangerous and biggest fire which occurred over the last five years. Hundreds of people slept in evacuation shelters, since their homes burned down and nothing was left except ashes. Even a large coal mine went on fire which created a lot of pollution and it was really hard to extinguish it.

Premier of Victoria said that the rescue teams were “Working very, very hard in this area to protect the strategic points."

AP agency reported that in the New South Wales, which is right next to Victoria, 50 fires were burning. It is known that many fires occur in Australia from December to February almost every year, but, this year was one of the hottest summers Victoria and New South Wales faced over the past decade. Meteorologists say that this happened because of global warming. Let’s hope they were wrong.

As for me, I am sure that the temperature will not bother me, and that one day I shall play the Grand Slam-Australian Open.

Here are the links I used:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/homes-lost-as-fires-reach-urban-fringe-20140209-329s1.html 

http://www.blic.rs/Vesti/Svet/441451/U-Viktoriji-izgorelo-najmanje-30-kuca-vatra-preti-Melburnu

Egyptian Violence split TWO ways

  Egypt wanted to start fresh at the start of the new year after all the political drama, attacks, and deaths that have happened. But it seems like someone's back for more, and gave an even bigger impact this time, but who takes the blame this time ?

  On January 24th, 2014 at the time of Egypt's 3rd Anniversary of the Revolution, 4 bomb attacks were set off over Cairo and its twin city Giza happening one after another. After all these charges at Egypt's capital, it left 7 people killed and 100+ injured at the end of the day, and it was also reported that at the anniversary there were 10  lives taken because of the security forces and Brotherhood supporters colliding. The people of Egypt are split two ways, one side blaming the Muslim Brotherhood and the other laming the Al-Qaeda's.

The first explosion was the most-impacted and destroyed lots of buildings and the 19th Century Islamic Art Museum it was said to be a suicide for the bomber, the bomb left a truck-size crater in the ground. While everyone rushed to the scene another blast accrued it being a car bombing in front of the Cairo Security Directorate, then a 3rd and 4th blow appeared a few hours later in Giza outside of a police station and a cinema but they weren't as bad as the first and second. I bet the people were thinking are there going to be anymore attacks, you never know if it will be blown up in front of your house ; a police officer climbed on top of the car and said in front of a crowd and TV broadcasts that " We are here for you, we will sacrifice our souls for you, we are here for this ".The Al-Qaeda's claimed responsibility for some of the recent attacks and for the car bombing in front of the police headquarters. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis of the " Supporters of Jerusalem ” quotes that this is the Al-Qaeda's fault because it their revenge for the security forces suppression, but then he claimed the attempt to assassinate the interior minister and takes accusation for the Mansoura bombing. 
While on the other half of the Egyptian people and commentators and demonstrators think that members of the Muslim Brotherhood did this and they've been holding protests ever since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, which was last July. The Muslim Brotherhood strongly denies this attack and called for its own demonstrations against the military takeover. Mohamed Ahmed a banker quotes " Who else but the Muslim Brotherhood has an interest in this kind of attack? After they were forced out of politics they just want to destroy the country. " . Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi makes this statement to the Brotherhood ( whether they're listening or not ) " He accepts the new constitution...refuses the use of force and he accepts the idea of a secular government, democratic one, open, no discrimination, no mixing of religion and politics, and accepting human rights, " .

The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist religious, social, and once political movement, they were considered the best political force in Egypt, but now because of all that has happened they could be known of somewhat of a terrorist group ; although the prime minister of Egypt says that any of the members could take part in forthcoming elections under certain conditions. Crowds at the bombings on Jan 24th were singing the chant of the Brotherhood members and there were people yelling " Death to the Muslim Brotherhood ". It was revealed that ex- BBC correspondents were arrested for using unlicensed equipment, filming false news and possessing fake footage. German ARD TV reported that three of their employees were attacked while broadcasting the burst at the police headquarters. Now in Egypt recording media have progressively became more aggressive and unfriendly. " We have a plan to secure all of this for the Anniversary of the 25th January Revolution " says Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, I think he meant by a memorial of all the lives lost and people protecting others and the protests.


Cites : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25874370
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/world/middleeast/fatal-bomb-attacks-in-egypt.html?_r=1

Unexpected Canadian Victory Winter Olympics 2014

Mai Ness - Mr.Calic - Humanities 7th Grade - 14 of February 2014

Team Canada wins USA in Ice Hockey during Winter Olympics 2014 

Team Canada has lost three games straight in the Women's Winter Olympics, but this last game, the Canadian Team won. How?

After losing 3 straight games during the Winter Olympics, Meghan Agosta-Marciano of Team Canada, along with her teammates, beat Team USA 3-2 in the Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia this Wednesday 12 February 2014.
--

Canada's Meghan Agosta-Marciano was celebrating her birthday during this game.

"I didn't go out there thinking I'm going to score on my birthday,'" said Agosta-Marciano. 

"I scored a hat trick at the Torino Olympics in 2006 [on her 19th birthday], but this is a different Olympics with a different team. They're all so special. The emotion of scoring doesn't get any better." (direct from the article). Her and the rest of Team Canada (including Hayley Wickenheiser, who also led to the win) scored 3 points during the 3rd period of the game, and won the game against Team USA.

--

Team USA's goalie Jessie Vetter stopped 28 pucks, and Team Canada's goalie Charline Labonte made 25 puck saves during the game.

"We’ve worked really hard to readjust and become a better team." said Labonte. Even though Team USA had a 6 on 4 person advantage, the Canadian team snapped a 4 losing streak during and has now won 18 games in this category in the Sochi Winter Olympics. Both teams are in the semi-finals.

Articles:

Sochi 2014 - CBC Sports - Canadian Hockey women rally to beat U.S.

Canada beat USA in possible preview of Sochi women's ice hockey final