Beyond The Hedges

2/3/11 6:00pm

National

Harsh blizzard hits 30 statesThirty states have felt effects from a blizzard across the United States. It only began to weaken on Wednesday, leaving behind closed schools, stranded airplane passengers and power outages. Chicago is recovering from its third-heaviest snowfall in history - 20.2 inches of snow with winds up to 70 mph. However, the winter weather is not at its end. Subzero temperatures are expected to hit many areas in a cold front following the storm. Spokesman for the National Weather Service Christopher Vaccaro said cold air is expected to flow through northern Wisconsin down to Houston. The extreme weather hit around two-thirds of the country in varying forms including tornado warnings on the Gulf Coast, snow and ice in Texas which forced rolling power blackouts, snow in Milwaukee and Chicago and ice that shut down two bridges in New York.

Source: Seattle Times

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Senate rejects health care repeal

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats defeated a bid from Republicans to repeal last year's health care plan with a vote of 51 to 47. Republicans fell 13 votes short of the 60 votes needed to pass their motion. The repeal was originally put forward by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell after being adopted by the Republican-controlled House. Despite losing the vote, Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota noted that the number of votes to repeal the health care bill still increased from the 40 votes last year because of November elections.

Source: The New York Times

Obama signs New Start treaty

President Barack Obama signed the New Start nuclear non-proliferation treaty this week. After the documents are exchanged with their Russian counterparts, signed last week by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the treaty, meant to reduce the nuclear stocks of both countries and introduce new verification methods, will become ratified. The Senate approved the treaty in December, and the Russian parliament approved it in January. New Start takes the place of the original 1991 Start treaty, which expired in December 2009.

Source: BBC

International

Protests continue in Egypt, despite police violence

A wave of protest sweeping the Arab world has hit Egypt. More than a dozen parties formed a loose coalition and launched a Facebook call for "a day of rage" coinciding with Police Day, a national holiday. 80,000 Egyptians signed up online to march in a demand for reform in more than a dozen cities around Egypt, including 30,000 people in Alexandria and Cairo. This was the largest act of civil disobedience in the 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Vague demands have been issued calling for an end to the emergency laws that have been in place throughout Mubarak's rule, as well as the firing of his interior minister and a higher minimum wage. In response to a fairly lenient police reaction, protesters seized Tahrir Square in Cairo. However, police became violent late in the evening, charging with truncheons and tear-gas, volleys of birdshot, plastic bullets and percussion rounds into the square. Three protesters were killed in the city of Suez by close-range plastic bullet shots and a policeman was killed in Cairo after being hit on the head with a rock.

Authorities clamped down on social networking websites, especially Twitter, which played a large part in helping to organize and gather protesters. In Cairo, cellphone reception was blocked as well. More than 1,000 people were arrested for the protests and it is suspected that they were beaten in custody. Protests after Friday prayers are still being called for and students in Egypt are expected to stir campus protests. Opposing parties are calling for more explicit demands like the dissolution of the parliament installed in December.

Source: The Economist

Cyclone Yasi hits Australia

Following terrible flooding, the worst cyclone in Australia's history hit Queensland. 14 foot waves and 260 km/h - 162 mph - winds are predicted for the cyclone, named Cyclone Yasi. Scientists say that the intensity of the cyclone is because of warmer temperatures due to climate change. The seas around northern Australia and Indonesia are one degree Fahrenheit warmer than they were 50 years ago. Warmer seas intensify La Niña - winds that pile up warm water around Australia - and El Niño - drought-causing weather - cycles in Australia. The present La Niña cycle is one of the strongest ever recorded, according to the Australian government.

Source: Reuters

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