Building Collaspes in Bangladesh

On Wednesday in Bangladesh a building collapsed killing hundreds of people. Thursday rescuers searched for survivors while thousands went to the streets to protest lax safety conditions. On Thursday night the death toll reached to a number of 244 people, while about 2,013 people have been rescued. On Wednesday morning the eight-story building in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka collapsed. In the building there were about 2,500 workers who were employed, a bank, and approximately 300 shops.  On Tuesday many of the workers in the building shared their concern about the building when many cracks began to appear.  Survivors have claimed that the factory owners told the building was safe and ordered them to report back to work. The owners of the building and of the factories are ordered to appear in court on April 30. Of the thousands who went to the streets to protest they carried black flags, some set fires, and others broke windows as they passed trucks. Ninety percent of the building are not meeting the safety regulations and rules and are not built according to code. Flags nationwide were being raised at half-staff Thursday after the government declared it a national day of mourning. The cause of the collapsing building is still unknown.  

My response to this article was that I felt kind of mad because I think it’s ridiculous that the owners of the building told workers who discovered the cracks on Tuesday that it was no big deal and that the building met safety regulations and rules.  It also stated that many workers who knew about the cracks were too scared to get fired so that why they still arrived to work. I think it’s just sad that the owners rather risk lives than spend money not having people working and spending money to have the building fixed.

(WC 303)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/bangladesh-building-collapse/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Dog and Owner Save Girls

In Edmonton, Alberta a new hero named rocky is eight years old and has four legs. Rocky is a Labrador retriever-husky mix and is being praised for pulling a nine year old girl from an freezing cold river on Easter Sunday. Also his owner Adam shaw is also sharing some of his praise. The little girl was tobogganing on the riverside when she and her sister ended up on the ice. Adam Shaw  and Rocky were walking over a bridge near the river when they noticed two girls in the water. He managed to get one girl onto the ice but was too far away to grab the other one. He guided Rocky into the water and se was able to grab him then Shaw pulled them both back onto the ice. Shaw and Rocky were rewarded at the fires ration and both received awards, rocky getting a bone.

I think the story is very cute and adorable and puts two hero into the spotlight. Even thought they were in a very intense and frightening situation it seemed that Shaw did a excellent job at remaining calm and trying to rescue the girls. The dog, Rocky, also did a good job and I give props to Shaw and Rocky for both being very brave and persistent at doing whatever it took to rescue the two little girls who could have drowned into the icy cold river. The situation must have been the scariest thing ever that those two girls must have ever faces and I'm really glad that there was a happy ending I the story instead if a sad depressing end of one of them getting badly injured or one of them sadly passing away. 

(WC 287)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/02/world/americas/canada-river-rescue/index.html?c=world&page=3

Building Collapses in India

        In New Delhi on Friday, police have said, that at least 46 people have died and many there people were injured after a illegal building that was under construction collapsed in western India. The building was reported to have caved in on Thursday evening. Another police officer has said that there has been 70 people who are injured. Five children were pulled alive from the rubble on Friday and rescuers are still searching through the wreckage. People were illegally using the first four floors even though those floors we by yet completed. The eight floor was still being built when the building collapsed. The cause if the collapse could have been from poor construction but authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse. The police have also registered a case of culpable homicide against the builder who they still have not been able to trace.

       The main reason I decided to choose this article was because it was located in India. Reading Q&A in my world humanities class has was the reason why I also picked this news report. It goes with what we are learning in my language arts class so it gave me some interest and wanted me to learn more on what is going on in India this current  day in time. It was also kind of strange on the whole illegal part of the building. I was confused on why it was illegal at first but from what I gathered from the news articles is that some people are living in the building even though the building is not completely done being built yet. It's also a really sad story because of the people who are trapped and all of the deaths and injuries. I really hope in the next couple of days the rescuers will be able to help find more people an that everyone will be alright. 

(WC 314) 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/world/asia/india-fatal-building-collapse/index.html?c=world

Teenage Girl From Pakistan Writes Memoir

Malala Yousafzai is the Pakistani teenage girl who I wrote an earlier blog about her and the incident that occurred last fall. Last fall she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman. She was caught advocating girls’ rights to an education when she was shot in the head. The memoir is titled, I am Malala. In a press release she wrote, “I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million of children who can’t education.” The deal for the memoir is around $3 million, but no one at publisher Little, Brown was willing to confirm the number.

I think she is extremely determined and has a large amount of bravery. For her to get injured and still want to fight the right for children to have an education is amazing! If the same thing happened to me I would probably be way too scared to continue the fight and would have just stayed home after the incident, so I have a huge respect for her and I give her props for being this determined and trying to make the world a better place. Her journey that she has been really sad but is really inspiring and it makes you wonder what you can do with your own life and makes you want to try something new and also help others who don’t have it as well as you do. I find her extremely inspiring and she gives me hope and others all over the world hope that the world can become a much better place than it is right now and that sometime in the future girls’ in Pakistan will be able to attend school without violence occurring and that they will be able to get the education that they deserve.

(WC 300)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/28/175540913/book-news-taliban-shooting-victim-is-publishing-a-memoir-i-am-malala

New Laws Concerning Crimes Against Women in India

   

On Thursday India's Parliament passed a bill to take on stronger penalties on men who attack women and also to criminalize offenses like stalking and voyeurism. They are waiting on President Pranab Muhkerjee to sign the bill into law shortly. Less than three months ago a New Delhi physiotherapy student was gang-raped on a moving bus and later she died from her injuries. The incident called in for a change and drew outrage and protests over the issue of women's safety. In recent years reported rapes in India have risen and northern India has witnessed a series of highly publicized gang rapes. Many Indians protested that the government should do more to protect women and make sure harsher sentences were put on the men. The law increases the punishment for sex crimes including gang rap, gives repeated offenders subject to the death penalty, and defines as crimes actions. The new law also forces stricter punishment for police officers that fail to properly register the complaints of sexual assault.

My opinion of the new law is that I think it is a good idea that they’re now finally trying to make it better in India. From all of the news articles that I have seen or read, I’ve noticed that before it seemed like that didn’t really try to do anything to protect the women for sexual assault. We’ve also seen a lot of sexual assault in the book Q&A (the book we are reading in our Language Arts class) and the book mostly just shows how badly some places in India can be. I still wonder even though they are going in the right steps but are the citizens and police actually going to carry out the law and make sure it actually gets followed through? I also believe even though it may not give full protection that it will make it a lot safer for women in India.

(WC 319)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/world/asia/india-bill-toughens-penalties-for-attacks-on-women.html?_r=0