Dubai to Open World's Tallest Building

BBC news (2010) < http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8439618.stm > [1/4/2010]

This fascinating article relates specifically to material covered in Chapter 7: North Africa and Southwest Asia. Page 259 in the textbook talks about countries like the United Arab Emirate (UAE) that Dubai is a part of “…deriving substantial revenues from oil.” The article also says the same thing. The article also discusses how foreign workers built the Burj Dubai building. Page 259 talked about the important role of foreign workers. The textbook (259) also says Dubai is symbolized by, “…ultramodern architecture, engineering feats.” Students should read this article because it does an outstanding job describing the dimensions of the world’s newest tallest building.

Articles which relate to material in Posting Group 2
Kelly Ann Victor-Burke

Oil spill threatens 'ecological disaster' in Italy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022401555.html

This article discusses an ecological event that relates to material covered in Chapter 1: Europe. On page 62 it says “Whereas Rome remains Italy’s capital and cultural focus, the functional core area of Italy has shifted northward into Lombardy in the Po River Basin…” in the article they state that the Po valley is the most important agricultural region in Italy. The article also discusses the concerns of damaged vegetation since the river is used extensively for irrigation. This ties also to what we learned on page 62 “The Po Basin, lying on the margins of the region’s dominant Mediterranean climatic regime, enjoys a more even pattern of rainfall distribution through out the year, making it a productive agricultural zone…” It is reported that the spill started at a former refinery in Milan, which according to the book also on page 62, “Milan is Italy’s largest city and leading manufacturing center … also it is the country’s financial and service-industry headquarters.” Fellow classmates should read this because it is reporting a major event in Italy.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/south.korea.ship.sinking/index.html?npt=NP1

Search continues for South Korean sailors after sinking

This article relates to material in Chapter 9 about Korea. Page 339 says “South Korea emerged from the ravages of war as the world’s largest shipbuilding nation” also on page 339 we read the capital, Seoul, is “the anchor of a huge industrial complex at the waist of the Korean Peninsula facing the Yellow Sea”. In the article is says that South Korean rescuers were searching for missing sailors after a navy ship sank in tense Yellow Sea waters and that the ship, Cheonan, went down off Baengnyeong, a Seoul-administered island between the Koreas. Given it’s proximity to North Korea, their involvement was feared. Page 338 states “Korea has long been a divided nation and that after World War II, North Korea entered the communist ideological sphere and became a dictatorship and South Korea became part of East Asia’s capitalist perimeter” eventually leading to The Korean War, even today troops continue guarding the border between the two. According to the article they are investigating what caused the ship to sink, keeping in mind "all possibilities".

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-10-12-Chile-miners_N.htm

By Victor Herrero, Special for USA TODAY

All 33 miners rescued from Chile mine

This article relates to material in Chapter 5 about the Geography of Natural Resources; specifically copper. Page 151 says that copper is, like most minerals, unevenly distributed in the earth’s crust. It goes on to say, on page 152, that Chile leads the world in copper production (about 36% of the total). In the article we read about how 33 were miners trapped half a mile below the Atacama Desert in an underground copper and gold mine for more than two months after 700,000 tons of rock collapsed.
Our book on page 135 and 136, although talking about coal, it does say this about mining: “Underground mining is not only expensive but is also among the most hazardous occupations in the world.”
Classmates should read this article because it is a joyous story about a truly amazing event that ended well and does a great job explaining what miners endure.