Important Summer News Stories

We're only half way through the summer but but there have been several major news developments.  I thought it might be useful to identify some of the stories you should be following:

• Afghan presidential elections
• al-Shabab insurgency in East Africa
• Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria
• Civil war in Syria
• Ebola outbreak
• Gaza-Israel conflict
• Indonesia presidential elections
• ISIS in Iraq & Syria
• Japan constitutional changes
• Pacific typhoon
• Turkish presidential elections
• Ukraine conflict (including MH17)
• US Supreme Court decisions
• World Cup

You should also know the leaders of the countries above along with leaders of major international organizations (ex. United Nations & International Monetary Fund) and institutions (ex. US Supreme Court, US Congress, & Catholic Church).

While you are not required to keep a journal/notes on current events, if you bring the journal to class on the first day you will be allowed to use this on the current events quiz.

Approved Sources for TWIF Current Events Posts

In Honors World Cultures we'll examine the veracity and reliability of various historical and contemporary sources.  After reading and taking notes on The World is Flat, you will find relevant, current news stories that relate to, support, refute, or extend Friedman's arguments.  Since we have not yet discussed how to evaluate sources, you must use the following sources to find stories from the past 6 months:

• Al-Jazeera America
• BBC World Service
• Christian Science Monitor
• The Economist
• Euronews
• The Guardian
• National Geographic News
• New York Times
• Newseum
• NPR
• Reuters
• The Washington Post
• The Week
• The World

Don't forget...  You will be taking a current events quiz on the first day of class.  Mrs. Friday uses the highlighted sources on a regular basis.