[OPLINLIST] Fwd: Economics, Natural Disasters, People - NewsBank Hot Topics, December 2012

[Stephen Hedges]

From: "NewsBank" <pcomrie at newsbank.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 2:28:13 PM 
Subject: Economics, Natural Disasters, People - NewsBank Hot Topics, December 2012 

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NewsBank Hot Topics is provided as part of your NewsBank subscription to help librarians, patrons, teachers and students easily uncover a wealth of information about prominent issues and events. Hot Topics addresses a wide variety of contemporary subjects from around the world related to social studies, science, health, sports, the arts, people and more. These topics are also posted on your NewsBank menu page and search screens, and on the Other NewsBank Products link within NewsBank full-text newspaper products. 

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NEWSBANK HOT TOPICS 
December 2012 

CURRENT EVENTS RESEARCH TOPICS 

Civics, Government and Politics: Fiscal Cliff 
TOPIC: The United States federal government must respond to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and work to toward resolving the deficit in the 2013 budget. What are some of the economic concerns that characterize the deadline as a fiscal cliff? What are the most persuasive arguments for and against the approaches of the Obama administration and the Republican Party in these negotiations? 
SEARCH TERMS: (budget AND tax*) OR fiscal cliff 

Civics, Government and Politics: Change of Status for Palestine 
TOPIC: The General Assembly of the United Nations has voted to change the status of Palestine from non-member observer to non-member state. What does this change mean? What was the margin of their victory? Who voted against this change? What was Israel’s attitude towards it? 
SEARCH TERMS: Palestine AND (United Nations OR UN) 

ECONOMICS: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 
TOPIC: Popular holiday shopping days after Thanksgiving have now become known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. What is the reason for these names and how have the rates of sales been this year for each day? How to retail stores rely on these days for their annual sales estimates? 
SEARCH TERMS: Black Friday OR Cyber Monday 
SOCIAL STUDIES RESEARCH TOPICS 


Civics, Government and Politics: Susan Rice 
TOPIC: United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice’s initial comments on television that the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya were from a spontaneous protest over an offensive anti-Islamic video have spurred Republicans in Congress to say they would oppose her nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. What was the timing and clarity of the evidence that the attack was terrorism and why did Rice say they were spontaneous? What have been the reactions of various senators after meeting with her on the issue? 
SEARCH TERMS: Susan Rice AND nomination 

Civics, Government and Politics: Disputed Powers 
TOPIC: Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi has declared that his decrees are not subject to judicial review, prompting censure from judges and causing mass demonstrations. What are his reasons for saying this? What do the judges and protesters say? How have the protesters who caused the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak responded? 
SEARCH TERMS: Mohammed Morsi AND (decrees OR judges OR protests) 

Civics, Government and Politics: Pillar of Defense 
TOPIC: Israel assassinated Ahmed Jibari, the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, responding to rocket attacks from hidden missile launching sites in Gaza. This set off several days of fighting. Israel’s missile defense system Iron Dome destroyed most incoming rockets, but some reached almost to Tel Aviv. How many Israelis and Palestinians died during the fighting? Who brokered the ceasefire and how will his response affect his position? 
SEARCH TERMS: Gaza AND Israel 

Civics, Government and Politics: National Elections Planned 
TOPIC: The government of Pakistan is making plans for national elections next spring, at the end of its term of office. If it survives until the elections, it will be the first civilian government to serve out a whole term. What has happened to previous civilian governments that prevented that outcome? Is it likely this government will be re-elected? 
SEARCH TERMS: Pakistan AND elections 

Civics, Government and Politics: Independence Drive Slows 
TOPIC: Catalonians re-elected a separatist party in recent elections, but the margins of victory and a split between separatist parties might indicate that an independence referendum could fail at the polls. The Spanish central government was pleased by the results. Why does the region wish to secede? Why has this been a distraction for the central government? 
SEARCH TERMS: Catalonia AND separatists 

CRIME AND LAW: Press Ethics Report Released 
TOPIC: The almost 2,000 page report on the state of the British newspaper industry, instigated by the illegal phone hacking done by reports in the early 2000s, was released. It urged the creation of a commission to regulate the industry, backed by statute, and with the ability to impose expensive fines. What is phone hacking? Which missing person’s phone was hacked during the investigation into her disappearance and why did the news of the hacking stun the country? What celebrities’ phones were hacked? How did the victims respond to this report and how did the members of Parliament? 
SEARCH TERMS: Levenson Report 

CRIME AND LAW: John McAfee 
TOPIC: John McAfee, a former computer software entrepreneur, is being sought for questioning by the Belize police in their investigation of a murder of a neighbor. What does McAfee say about why he is running from the police? What has he done that is unlike other fugitives? 
SEARCH TERMS: John McAfee 

CRIME AND LAW: Legalization of Marijuana 
TOPIC: Washington and Colorado have voted to allow a regulated recreational use of small amounts of marijuana. What other states have voted to reform the use of use of marijuana and what were the results? What is the jurisdiction of federal versus state law in these cases? 
SEARCH TERMS: (marijuana OR pot) AND legal* 

ECONOMICS: Debt Ruling 
TOPIC: An appeals court has ruled against Argentina and said they need to repay Elliott Management Co. in full at the same time they pay other creditors who have accepted lesser terms, terms Elliott spurned. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has requested the court to reconsider, saying they’ll be placed in an untenable position. Why does Argentina want to give preference to debtors who negotiated with them over those who refused? What is the judge’s rationale for forcing payment? What do the Federal Reserve and the SEC say about this? Are there long term implications for international investment in this case? 
SEARCH TERMS: Argentine AND debt AND Elliott Management Co. 

EDUCATION: Locater Chips 
TOPIC: A Texas school district is experimenting with putting locater chips in school identification badges that allow administrators to track the location of students in ways similar to GPS. What has been the reaction to these chips? What could be the benefits of giving administrators the ability to track students? 
SEARCH TERMS: locater chips AND Texas 

HISTORY: Letter by Napoleon 
TOPIC: A letter written in code by Napoleon on the eve of his retreat from Moscow in 1812 is going on sale in France. In it he describes the conditions of his army and his intent to destroy the Kremlin. What was the reason for Napoleon invading Russia? What brought about his retreat? 
SEARCH TERMS: Napoleon AND Russia 

HISTORY: Oldest Settlement Found 
TOPIC: Bulgarian archaeologists believe they have found the oldest urban settlement in Europe. It was surrounded by a wall about 10 feet high and 6 feet thick. How old do they think this town is? Why does Bulgaria have many prehistoric sites? 
SEARCH TERMS: Bulgaria AND (archaeology OR prehistoric) 

HISTORY: Stalin’s Daughter 
TOPIC: The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin famously defected to the U.S. in 1967 and after marrying, lived under the name Lana Peters. Her recent death in a Wisconsin nursing home has spurred a declassification of her FBI documents. What do these documents reveal about her and why was she watched so closely by the U.S. government? What was her motivation for defecting and how did she feel Americans characterized her versus how she perceived herself to be? 
SEARCH TERMS: Stalin’s daughter OR Lana Peters OR Svetlana Alliluyeva 

SOCIAL ISSUES: New Archbishop of Canterbury 
TOPIC: Justin Welby, who had a career as an executive in the oil industry, has been named the Archbishop of Canterbury. He will succeed Rowan Williams. What are the biggest issues facing the Anglican Church? What are his views on those issues? 
SEARCH TERMS: Justin Welby AND Archbishop of Canterbury 

SOCIAL ISSUES: Anglican Church 
TOPIC: The Anglican Church has voted to continue not allowing women to serve as bishops. It was a very narrow majority for that policy, meaning the issue is not going to go away. Who was able to vote in this election? How did women voters tend to vote? 
SEARCH TERMS: women AND bishops AND Anglican Church 

SOCIAL ISSUES: Birth Rate 
TOPIC: The birth rate in the United States is the lowest ever recorded according to a report by the Pew Research Center. What are some reasons given for the drop? What were the birth rates like across the span of the 20 th century? 
SEARCH TERMS: birth rate 
SCIENCE AND HEALTH RESEARCH TOPICS 


ENVIRONMENT: Global Warming 
TOPIC: The extreme weather and change in storm patterns has reinvigorated interest in global warming. What are the specific aspects of the recent natural disasters that show patterns predicted by global warming theories? What action is being taken globally and in the U.S. to address global warming more seriously? 
SEARCH TERMS: global warming 

ENVIRONMENT: Mountain Gorillas 
TOPIC: The population of mountain gorillas in Uganda has risen according to the most recent census taken of them. Uganda has nearly half of the mountain gorillas in Africa in its Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. What conservation methods have helped lead to this increase? What other countries have these gorillas? What are threats to them in those countries? 
SEARCH TERMS: mountain gorillas AND population 

ENVIRONMENT: Saving Tunas 
TOPIC: The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna voted to maintain fishing quotas on the bluefin tuna. These quotas, in place since 2007, have led to a rebound in the fish population. The commission did not extend protection to sharks. What popular food led to an increase in tuna fishing? What is threatening the shark population? 
SEARCH TERMS: Atlantic bluefin tuna OR (mako or porbeagle) sharks AND population 

HEALTH: HIV Epidemic in the Ukraine 
TOPIC: Ukraine faces an HIV epidemic. It has a high rate of infection coupled with a low rate of treatment with anti-retroviral therapies. The concern is that the disease will escape from high-risk populations into the general citizenry. Why is the rate of infection so high and what is it? Why is the rate of treatment so low? 
SEARCH TERMS: Ukraine AND HIV 

HEALTH: Doctor Shortage 
TOPIC: The American Medical Association is holding its Interim Meeting aiming to address the looming doctor shortage based on estimates from the Association of American Medical Colleges. What are the shortage estimates and how are they arrived at? What are some plans to address this problem? 
SEARCH TERMS: (doctors OR physicians) AND shortage* 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Genetic Code for Wheat 
TOPIC: An international team of scientists have developed tools to investigate parts of the genetic code of wheat. A draft genome of the plant published in 2010 was helpful in this. What uses might these tools have? Why is maintaining a genetic diversity of wheat important? How important is wheat to the world food supply? 
SEARCH TERMS: wheat AND genetics AND research 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Ape Midlife Crisis 
TOPIC: A recent study by Andrew Oswald for the National Academy of Sciences shows that great apes have midlife crises. What is a midlife crisis and how does it show up in apes verses humans? How were these apes studied? 
SEARCH TERMS: midlife crisis AND apes 
SPORTS RESEARCH TOPICS 


SPORTS: Cy Young Awards 
TOPIC: R.A. Ricky of the New York Mets and David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays have won Cy Young Awards. What are the qualifications to win a Cy Young Award? What have been some of the high points in the baseball careers of R.A. Ricky and David Price? 
SEARCH TERMS: Ricky AND Price AND Cy Young 

SPORTS: Youth Movement 
TOPIC: A 14-year –old Chinese boy has qualified for golf’s Masters Tournament. Guan Tianlang will be going there as the winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. Is he the youngest person to play in this tournament? What other leading golf tournaments allow amateurs into their field? 
SEARCH TERMS: Guan Tianlang AND Masters 

SPORTS: Formula One Championship 
TOPIC: Sebastian Vettel has won the Formula One driver’s championship and his Team Red Bull has won the constructor’s championship for the 2012 season. It is the third straight victory for Vettel. How does Formula One differ from NASCAR? How were points awarded to the drivers and to the constructors? Who is Vettel being compared to as a driver? What is amazing about his accomplishment? Where did new tracks open this season? 
SEARCH TERMS: Sebastian Vettel AND Formula One 

SPORTS: USGA Equipment Changes 
TOPIC: The entities that sanction equipment and rules in the world of golf, the USGA and the R&A, have decided to phase out the long belly and chest putters, now that three majors have been won using them. They will be fully banned in 2016. What is the complaint against these pieces of equipment? Why are they being banned after being in use for decades? What are the USGA and the R&A? 
SEARCH TERMS: belly putters AND policy 

SPORTS: Ben Ainslie 
TOPIC: Briton Ben Ainslie has retired from Olympic sailing competitions, having won four gold medals. He now has his eyes set on the America’s Cup. What class of boats did he sail in during the Olympics? What types of boats are being used in the America’s Cup races and how do they differ from the Olympic boats? 
SEARCH TERMS: Ben Ainslie 

SPORTS: Marvin Miller 
TOPIC: Marvin Miller was a longtime director for the Major League Baseball Players Association. Under Miller’s direction, what are some of the ways the MLBPA grew and changed? What are some ways that changing the MLBPA changed the game of professional baseball? 
SEARCH TERMS: Marvin Miller AND baseball 

SPORTS: New York City Marathon Canceled 
TOPIC: The 2012 New York City Marathon was canceled as the damage from Hurricane Sandy made it too costly a nuisance for the heavy repair work needed at various points along the route. Why did it take so long for the decision to be made to cancel the marathon? What are some activities marathoners who did show up took part in? 
SEARCH TERMS: New York City Marathon AND Hurricane Sandy 
ARTS AND LITERATURE RESEARCH TOPICS 


FILM AND TELEVISION: Zero Dark Thirty 
TOPIC: Zero Dark Thirty is the name of Kathryn Bigelow’s new action film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. What political controversies arose regarding this film? What has been the critical response to this film? 
SEARCH TERMS: Zero Dark Thirty AND Bigelow 

FILM AND TELEVISION: 7 Cajas 
TOPIC: Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital city was the location for the film 7 Cajas which is wowing local audiences. It has won awards at international film festivals and has been picked up for international distribution, too. 7 Cajas in English is & Boxes . In what part of the city was it filmed? What type of genre is it? Is it likely to be the international audience’s first look at Paraguay and Asuncion? 
SEARCH TERMS: 7 Cajas 

FINE ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE: Mannerism 
TOPIC: Osaka’s National Museum of Art hosts a major show of the works of El Greco, the Spanish artist. He was a mannerist painter who died almost 400 years ago in 1614. What are the details of his life? What is mannerist painting? How does his artwork represent this style? 
SEARCH TERMS: El Greco AND mannerist 

FINE ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE: Sinister Pop 
TOPIC: A new exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York City is titled Sinister Pop, showing the pop art that had moved from reflecting popular mass market consumer themes to the more cynical themes of the counterculture movement. What are some examples of early and later pop art and what were aspects of the changing culture that influenced the art? Who are some major artists of the pop art movement and how is their art described? 
SEARCH TERMS: Whitney Museum AND Sinister Pop 

LITERATURE: Louise Erdich 
TOPIC: Louise Erdich has won the National Book Award for her novel The Round House . What are the qualities of The Round Hou se that most impress the critics? What are some of her other acclaimed books by Louise Erdich and what impressed the critics about them? 
SEARCH TERMS: Louise Erdich 

LITERATURE: Bryce Courtenay 
TOPIC: Bryce Courtenay was an Australian writer. He is the author of, among other works, the bestselling The Power of One . This was his only work published in the U.S. What were some of his other works? What was his only non-fiction work and what were the circumstances behind it? What was his reputation in Australian and how was he received by the Australian literary crowd? 
SEARCH TERMS: Bryce Courtenay 

LITERATURE: Anniversary of the Thaw 
TOPIC: It has been fifty years since the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s eye-opening novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. One result of it was that other camp survivors began sending him their stories, leading to his writing The Gulag Archipelago . Why did the Soviet government let this be published in 1962? What were some other results of its publication? What ultimately happened to him? What prize was he rewarded in the 1970s? Are there implications for any other authoritarian government that might be thinking of an artistic thaw? 
SEARCH TERMS: Alexander Solzhenitsyn AND One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 

PERFORMING ARTS: Person of the Year 
TOPIC: Caetano Veloso was named the Latin Grammy person of the year. The Brazilian singer songwriter is most associated the tropicalia musical style. What other musicians are associated with this genre? How can it be described? What are some of his noteworthy songs? 
SEARCH TERMS: Caetano Veloso AND topicalia 

PERFORMING ARTS: Fiddlers’ Dream 
TOPIC: Martin Fay was the fiddler in the group The Chieftains. This group helped spearhead the international popularity of Irish traditional music. What were some of the other instruments used in Irish music? Who were other founding members of the group? How long did it take them to give up their day jobs? Who were some of the guests on their records? 
SEARCH TERMS: Martin Fay AND The Chieftains 

PERFORMING ARTS: Avery Fisher Hall 
TOPIC: The New York City Philharmonic will be relocating for two seasons while its home stage, Avery Fisher Hall, is being redesigned. What is the planned redesign and what will be improved? Where will the Philharmonic’s temporary home be and what are some of the qualities of that hall? 
SEARCH TERMS: Avery Fisher Hall 

PEOPLE RESEARCH TOPICS 

PEOPLE: Mary Schapiro 
TOPIC: The first woman to serve as Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Schapiro will be retiring in December. What are some of the successes and setbacks in her direction of the SEC? What was her career before taking over at the SEC? 
SEARCH TERMS: Mary Schapiro 

PEOPLE: Nate Silver 
TOPIC: Statistician and psephologist Nate Silver, writer of the blog FiveThirtyEight.com , had an amazingly accurate forecast of this year’s elections, successfully predicting how each of the 50 states would vote in the presidential election as well as 31 of the 33 U.S. Senate races. What system of forecasting did he develop for professional baseball and how does it work? What is the process by which he predicted the winners in the 2008 and 2012 elections? 
SEARCH TERMS: Nate Silver 

PEOPLE: Dr. Joseph Murray 
TOPIC: Dr. Joseph Murray was a U.S. organ transplant pioneer. Who did he perform the first liver transplant on and when? What other forms of surgery is he known for and what are some of the most famous examples of his work? 
SEARCH TERMS: Joseph Murray AND organ transplant 

PEOPLE: Valerie Eliot 
TOPIC: Valerie Eliot was the widow of the noted poet T.S. Eliot. How long were they married? How did she preserve his writings and reputation? 
SEARCH TERMS: Valerie Eliot 

PEOPLE: Ehud Barak 
TOPIC: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has announced his retirement from politics. He will stay in office through the upcoming elections. What was his career before entering politics? What political posts has he held? Did he give any reasons for quitting politics? 
SEARCH TERMS: Ehud Barak 

PEOPLE: Bal Thackeray 
TOPIC: Bal Thackeray was the founder of the Hindu nationalist political party Shiv Sena, which ruled the state of Maharashta from 1995 to 2000. What was his impact on India? What acts of violence were his followers accused of? 
SEARCH TERMS: Bal Thackeray 

PEOPLE: Larry Hagman 
TOPIC: Actor Larry Hagman was best known for his roles in the TV soap opera Dallas and the comedy I Dream of Jeannie . Who was his mother and what was her career like? What films was he in and what were his roles? 
SEARCH TERMS: Larry Hagman 

PEOPLE: Emanuel Steward 
TOPIC: Emanuel Manny Steward became a legendary boxing trainer in Detroit. What were his winning techniques as a trainer and who were some of the major boxers he trained? How did he get involved in training boxers? 
SEARCH TERMS: Emanuel Steward 






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