England The Beautiful game

    

   Were did football (soccer) all begin? you may think Brazil, but no, England had the first organization that put together a football league. The organization was called simply the football association or FA. This may sound familiar because England still has its prized FA cup tournament were not only the professionals play in but also the semi-professionals. There are many different forms of football dating as far back as 3,000 yr.s to the Chinese. Their version was the player had to kick the ball through a small net while being beaten by other people. Even ancient Greece played a version of football. The object was to dribble the ball across the other persons boundary line. The game was played on a rectangular field with a line marking the half. Football has become a necessity in almost every country around the world. Riots and murders have been caused by this sport and unity brought on by the sport.Baseball is Americas favorite past time but  "the Beautiful game" is the worlds favorite past time.

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Vieques is about ten miles from Perto Rico mainland and  is home to one of natures most fascinating creatures, single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates or Plankton that light up. There is about 720,000 of these creature in one single gallon of water.These plankton emit their light when agitated as a defense mechanism. between 1941 and 2003 the United states used Vieques as a military training ground. It wasn't until they left that Vieques became a hot tourist attraction.

Israel

     

     Western Wall or Kotel HaMaaravi or the wailing wall has been the holiest of Holly's for the Judaism faith. King Herod began building the temple in 19 B.C. The temple was not finished until 50years later, only to be destroyed a few years after its construction by the Romans. European Crusaders took over Jerusalem then the wall was taken by Spain then to Turkey. During this time the practice of Judaism was penalized by expulsion or death.  It wasn't until 1967 that the Sacred sight was awarded to Israel. Pope John Paul II went to the wailing wall to pray and apologize for the persecution of Jews. Religious or not it is said that you will feel a sacred grandeur when you visit the wailing. When The wailing wall was awarded to Israel it caused a great disturbance between Jewish and Muslim relations. The Muslims believe that is were Muhammad accented to the heavens. These religious wars between the two faiths go on even today with no peace in sight.

Japan

    

  Although the origin of maria arts is unclear many believe it originated in Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. Martial arts was developed as a form of self defense among the Japanese Farmers. They did this because the strict government would not allow them to own any sort of weapon. Once the government found out about their secret techniques they were forced to teach the Japenese army. To keep there secrets they gave the army a watered down version. During WWII American troops occupying Okinawa were just as intrigued by the Martial arts and asked the Japanese troops to teach them, and although they taught the Americans they watered down the forms even further. It is increasingly difficult to understand the forms now because the correct tools were not handed down. Today there are over 400 recognized forms of martial arts. The popular Kung Fu form has over 1,000 different variations.

China

     The Great wall is 3,700 miles long. If all the walls were included through out the dynasties it would exceed 31,000 miles. It is unsure how long the wall was because of wars and natural erosion that have occurred over the many years. The great wall was constructed through the seventh century B.C. by the princesses and warlords. The Great Wall served many uses such as political borders, military and safeguard for the Silk road, a major trading route.

India

     The Taj Mahal ,one of the great eight wonders of the world, is a elegant master piece created by Shah Jahan, for his Queen Mumtaz Mahal. It took 22 years to construct the 213 foot shrine, and employed 20 thousand workers. The central dome has 58ft. diameter. It is located along the Banks of River Yamuna in Agra. It is said that Jahan ordered that the people who built the Taj Mahal  have their hands removed so they would never build another structure of that grandeur. The Taj Mahal was once covered with precious stones through out its interior but was plundered during wars.Jahan wanted to build a identical monument for his tomb just in black but never began the project.  

Portugal

 

     Is Marijuana legal any were? The real answer is no. No country has completely legalized Marijuana, but some have decriminalized to the point were it might as well be legal. Portugal (not the Netherlands) actually has the most lenient policy in the world. Portugal has decriminalized ALL Drugs. No that is not a typo Portugal has gone out on a limb and eliminated criminal penalties on all drugs. The reason behind this was t hat it was easier and cheaper to help addicts then to imprison. This resulted in more funding for rehabilitation centers.

     
     Has Portugals bold moves worked? here are some statistics. Portugal has the lowest use of Marijana in the European Union. More people in America have used cocaine then people in portugal have used Marijuana. Illegal drugs in 7th through 9th graders fell 14.1% and lifetime heroin use in teens fell 2.5%. HIV infections fell 17% between 1999 and 2003. Death from herion and simaler drugs were CUT IN HALF. The number of people seeking help rose from 14,000 to 6,000. Can America learn from this? America has the highest drug use in the world, why keep it illegal?

N. Korea

Clinton and Jong-il



     On November 24, South Korea was participating in military exercises in a border disputed area with North Korea resulting in a artillery shell retaliation from the North. This retaliation was provoked when a shell from the South entered what the North believes is there territory. This territory is not recognized by the United Nations as North Korea's but instead South Korea's territory. The US and Japan are now urging China to influence North Korea to "settle down", but China is not so eager to intervene. This is because North Korea is very unstable and China does not want to provoke any further negative actions.  

    North Korea on October 21, 1994 in Geneva agreed that: North Korea would freeze its existing nuclear program and agree to enhanced International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, Both countries would move toward full normalization of political and economic relations. Both sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. (Steven A, Weapons program).