Artical: "Last Call" Final

There was quite a show going on at TRHS at noon, Wednesday the 22nd of April, a show called “Last Call” “Last Call” was put on by the local fire and police departments and the hospital with the help of Sheridan Media and a handful of Tongue River High Students. The event started out with all the Tongue River High students and teachers heading out to the parking lot. Once we were all settled in, the “Last Call” skit started. The scene was already set up. Paige Miller lay ‘dead’ on the parking lot a good many feet from the wrecked car. Inside the wrecked vehicle were Colton Caywood, Kelsie Dellos and Andrew Orchard. Sean Chalfant was sitting dazed in the other mainly undamaged vehicle involved the ‘crash’. Logan Pawlowski was narrating from the Sheridan Media van. Logan started off by introducing the scene. Andrew Orchard and his friends had been driving home from Prom when Sean, who had been drinking, hit them. The impact caused Paige to be ejected from the vehicle while crushing the front end of it. A passerby had called the police to report the incident. The passengers in the vehicle begin to wake and move. Andrew was the least injured in the wrecked car and he began scrambling to get out of the vehicle. All three were calling for someone to get them out. As Andrew scrambled out of the vehicle, police began to arrive. One officer went over and restrained Andrew, who had seen Paige and was calling to her. The other officer went over and started to question Sean. A moment later a fire truck arrived. The firemen then began helping the police. A fireman went over a checked Paige for a pulse and assessed her as dead. Next the ambulance arrived. The paramedics checked Paige and upon assessing her as dead, they covered her with a white sheet and went to help the others. Andrew was put on a stretcher and taken to the ambulance to be checked for further injuries. A paramedic got in the wrecked car to put a neck brace on Kelsie and to steady her. Meanwhile, firemen began the operation of removing the vehicle’s roof in order to remove the injured safely. While they were removing the roof Colton complained of not being able to feel his legs, and it was afterward assessed that he had a serious injury and would need to be transported to Casper for treatment. While the firemen worked on getting to the injured Sean was attempting to walk in a straight line. After failing the sobriety test Sean was handcuffed and taken by the police. Logan informed us that he would be taken to court later, fined and charged for DUI and vehicular homicide. About this point, Kane Funeral Home showed up to take Paige’s body to the funeral home. They would have the sad job of calling her parents to inform them of the tragedy. Finally, the firemen removed the roof of the wrecked car and the paramedics were able to safely remove the injured and transport them to the hospital. Logan Pawlowski then concluded his narration by informing us of the fates of those involved. Sean would go to prison. Colton would live the rest of his life in a wheelchair, immobilized. Kelsie and Andrew would recover and go on to college. All would live with regrets and none of them would be the same anymore.
After the “Last Call” skit the whole school filed into the auditorium for some follow up messages. Janice Schoonmaker, leader of ‘the line’ program, read a speech and a poem on the dangers of drinking and driving. The poem was called the “Party Poem” and it spoke of one who did all the right things and yet died because of a drunk driver. After her a lady with a last name of Davidson presented a video, Rearview: Looking Back, about several people whose lives were ruined because of driving to fast or driving distracted. After these presentations there was a question and answer with ‘Boot’, our school cop, a paramedic, the man from Sheridan Media, and the students who acted in the skit. The program ended around two o’clock.

News April 30th

Russia captures Somalia pirates
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8023951.stm
“Twelve armed pirates in two boats have been captured by the vigilante groups,” regional leaders in Somalia’s northern Puntland reported Tuesday. This is due to a new militia of fishermen which have been put together in order to catch pirates. All this came about after a pirate vessel was seized by a Russian warship. This seizure was made after guns and navigation equipment were found on the vessel by Russians. Russians suspect that these pirates have launched two unsuccessful attacks against Russian tanker crews.

Attacks have a ripple effect on Iran-Irag ties
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-04-28-iraqshrine_N.htm?csp=34
Recent bombings in Baghdad have killed dozens of Iranian pilgrims. “They want to tear the Shiites of Iraq and Iran apart,” said Ridhaei of Tehran. At least 118 people were killed in these back-to-back bombings, most of them Iranians. Hamid al-Mualla, and Iraqi member of parliament, claims that it is clear that al-Qaeda (in Iraq) is responsible for the bombings. He says that they are trying to “restart the sectarian war…break our strong relationship with Iran… and send a message that Iraq is still not safe.”

Florida Pinpoints Cause Of Polo Horse Deaths
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103587493&ft=1&f=1001
Toxic levels of a mix of minerals which help muscles recover from fatigue have been determined as the cause of death in the 21 polo horses. The mix mainly consisted of selenium and was made by a Florida pharmacy in order to copy a name-brand supplement known as Biodyl. It hasn’t been decided yet whether the problem was caused during the mixing done by the veterinarian or if it was a pharmacy error. Either way incorrect amounts of selenium were in the vitamins which were given to the horses. And toxic levels of it were found in the horses, and is being blamed as the cause of death.

At Least Four Dead, Dozens Injured in Central California Tour Bus Crash
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518301,00.html
A fully loaded tour bus overturned on U.S. 101 in Soledad California. At least four people are dead with four more in critical condition and few others injured. The tour bus was from a company called Orion Pacific, which is described as a luxury charter coach company. Reportedly 26 people were on board when the bus overturned and crashed into the guardrail. They highway was shut down for a few hours after the crash as emergency workers got to the injured. It is not known yet how many have been injured in this crash.

Op-Ed

In response to Kim Caywood’s ‘Unfair rules in the New School’
It is quite exciting to move into a new school. And yes there are certain things that we could live with being changed, but the new rules aren’t necessarily one of them. Though I understand the annoyance with many of the new rules, they really aren’t unreasonable. And some people do agree with and follow them. First off, the food and drink rule isn’t that bad, and isn’t hard to follow. After all is it unfair for our principle to want to keep the school clean? Though I understand that us kids get hungry during the day, we can still keep the food out of the classrooms. There is a commons area where we can eat. Store a snack in the fridge and arrange times that you can eat them. I’m sure you can work out with some teachers to go to the commons, eat a snack real quick and go back to your class. And if you need a snack for after school you can do the same thing. Store a snack in the commons fridge and eat it real quick after school. As for the drinks, anything but water can also be easily stored in the commons area and consumed during lunch or other times in the commons area. If you need a drink during class there are water fountains and teachers do allow you to go get a drink. Although on the point of water, I do believe the rules could be modified. Now to the coat rule. Is a hoodie that different than a coat? If you get a good hoodie it can keep you just as warm as any coat. And if one hoodie doesn’t do it bring two, layer up! Besides why is it so important to wear a coat or leather man rather than a hoodie? The hallway rule is also very reasonable. During the lunch hour all we’re going to do is go down and eat lunch. Then we sit around a visit for a while till the next bell. What do we need to get out of our lockers during this time? If you brought a sack lunch you should get it at the beginning of lunch. And anything else you either really don’t need or you can get on your way to lunch. There’s nothing that important in our lockers that we need to be able to access them during the half hour of lunch. Overall these new rules really aren’t that hard to follow and shouldn’t be that much of a problem. As for regaining the peace between students and teachers, is there supposed to be a peace? After all they are our teacher and authorities, not our friends. And the exact reason you stated is why they haven’t given our freedoms back. ‘Students still bring water and food into classrooms, and still war their coats’. Which means we’re disobeying the rules. Should we be rewarded for disobedience by getting our freedoms back?

Article: Last Call (draft)

There was quite a show going on at TRHS at noon, Wednesday the 22nd of April. A show called “Last Call” “Last Call” was put on by the local fire and police departments and the hospital with the help of Sheridan Media and a handful of Tongue River High Students. The event started out with all the Tongue River High students and teachers heading out to the parking lot. Once we were all settled in, the “Last Call” skit started. The scene was already set up. Paige Miller lay ‘dead’ on the parking lot a good many feet from the wrecked car. Inside the wrecked vehicle were Colten Caydwood, Kelsie Dellos and Andrew Orchard. Shawn Chalfant was sitting dazed in the other mainly undamaged vehicle involved the ‘crash’. Logan Polowski was narrating from the Sheridan Media van. Logan started off by introducing the scene. Andrew Orchard and his friends had been driving home from Prom when Shawn, who had been drinking, hit them. The impact caused Paige to be ejected from the vehicle while crushing the front end of it. A passerbyer had called the police to report the incident. The passengers in the vehicle begin to wake and move. Andrew was the least injured in the wrecked car and he begin scrambling to get out of the vehicle. All three were calling for someone to get them out. As Andrew scrambled out of the vehicle police began to arrive. One officer went over and restrained Andrew who had seen Paige and was calling to her. The other officer went over and started to question Shawn. A moment later a fire truck arrived. The firemen then began helping the police. A fireman went over a checked Paige for a pulse and assessed her as dead. Next the ambulance arrived. The paramedics checked Paige and upon assessing her as dead they covered her with a white sheet and went to help the others. Andrew was put on a stretcher and taken to the ambulance to be checked for further injuries. A paramedic got in the wrecked car to put a neck brace on Kelsie and to steady her. Meanwhile firemen begin the operation of removing the vehicles’ roof in order to remove the injured safely. While they were removing the roof; Colten complained of not being able to feel his legs and it was afterward assessed that he had taken serious injury and would need to be transported to Casper for treatment. While the firemen worked on getting to the injured Shawn was attempting to walk in a strait line. After failing the drunkenness test Shawn was handcuffed and taken by the police. Logan informed us that he would be taken to court later, fined and charged for DUI and vehicular homicide. About this point Kane funeral home showed up to take Paige’s body to the funeral home. They would have the sad job of calling her parents to inform them of the tragedy. Finally the firemen removed the roof of the wrecked car and the paramedics were able to safely remove the injured and transport them to the hospital. Logan Polowski then concluded his narration by informing us of the fates of those involved. Shawn would go to prison. Colten would live the rest of his life in a wheelchair, immobilized. Kelsie and Andrew would recover and go on to college. But all would live with regrets and none of them would be the same anymore.
After the “Last Call” skit the whole school filed into the auditorium for some follow up messages. Janice Scoonmaker, leader of ‘the line’ program, read a speech and a poem on the dangers of drinking and driving. The poem was called the “Party Poem” and it spoke of one who did all the right things and yet died because of a drunk driver. After her a lady with a last name of Davidson presented a video, Rearview: Looking Back, about several people whose lives were ruined because of driving to fast or driving distracted. After these presentations there was a question and answer with ‘Boot’ our school cop, a paramedic, the man from Sheridan Media and the students who acted in the skit. The program ended around two o’clock.

DVD review; Flywheel

Are you tired of all the modern films that seem to lack both purpose and message? Then Sherwood Pictures has a DVD for you: Flywheel. Produced in 2003 by a church called Sherwood Baptist in Albany, Georgia, this film was the first of three amazing family films. Sherwood produced Flywheel as a local outreach to their community. The film was made in 5 months with a $20,000 budget and premiered in the local theater. The film was so popular that the theater kept it showing for six weeks. After that it continued to spread and pretty soon Flywheel was being shown nation wide. Flywheel is pretty obviously a first film, but its message, characters and storyline make up for that. The film looks more like a fancied-up home picture than a Hollywood film. It has good music, well done voices and good lighting, but it doesn’t have all the animation and finishing effects we’re all so used to. But that homemade feel actually helps the movie out. It looks more realistic allowing its message to hit harder and sink in deeper. The story is about a dishonest used car salesman, Jay Austin, who’s starting to go down hill. He has some serious debt, his son doesn’t look up to him and his marriage is falling apart. But one day something happens that begins to change his life. The pastor of Jay’s church comes to buy a car. Jay sells him a car for about $3,000 more than it was worth. The pastor naively believes that he got a good deal and prays that God will do unto Jay as Jay had done unto him. Jay knows he was dishonest and what the pastor intended as a blessing appears as a curse. Then begins a radical change for Jay. He realizes his mistakes and dedicates his life and his car lot to God. Things in his life start to improve. But Jay’s troubles aren’t over yet. Flywheel shows how God is faithful to those that truly follow him. It also has a very strong message about faith and prayer. Throughout the whole movie, Jay’s family continually prays for him and supports him when he makes good choices. They also try to point out his errors and help him change them, even though he doesn’t want to change at first. After Jay dedicates his life to God he starts to live off of faith. Faith that God will help him become a better husband, father and man in general. Faith that God will do what is best for Jay. And faith that God would come through and deliver Jay on His own timing. The film did and incredible job of getting these messages across. The sets for this film were very simple: consisting of Sherwood church, Jay’s home, the car lot and various other houses. The acting was realistic and very good considering that none of the people in this movie had any training. God truly blessed the people behind this film and allowed them to make a great out reach ministry. Overall Flywheel was very enjoyable and worth watching a couple of times. I highly recommend it.

Editorial (final)

Do you Respect a lack of Respect?
Has anyone noticed the lack of respect that people tend to have anymore? It’s everywhere. You can see it in children who don’t respect their parents, students who don’t respect their teachers, workers who don’t respect their bosses, and millions of others who don’t respect the authorities that have been put over them. It’s extremely annoying too. (I mean is it that hard to show a little respect?) Do these people who seem to lack respect ever wonder why those others were put in positions over them, or how they feel when they aren’t respected as they should be? After all there are reasons why there are others in authority over us. And very legitimate ones at that. Have you ever
thought about what the world would be like without authorities or leaders? It would be utter chaos!
I mean sure there would be certain groups of people who could organize and govern themselves, but only by appointing leaders. And everywhere else would just be horrible. Without leaders and authorities everything that even hinted at order and functionality within groups of people would disappear.
Maybe it would not be this extreme but it would still be pretty bad. So what does the concept of the absence of authorities have to do with the lack of respect for those authorities? Well, have you ever thought about what exactly a lack of respect for someone is? When someone shows a lack of respect, usually for someone else, they are really implying that they wish that other person didn’t exist. Let’s look at an illustration of this concept.
Say Thomas, we’ll call him, doesn’t respect his local police officer, because Thomas drives just a little to fast and the police officer always pulls him over and gives him a ticket. The truth of the matter is this: that the police officer is just doing his job, maybe a little over zealously, but doing it nonetheless; and Thomas really should drive at the speed limit, not above it.
Thomas doesn’t respect the officer because Thomas really just wishes that the officer was gone, because Thomas really just wants to drive whatever speed he wants to. And if the officer wasn’t there, then Thomas could go whatever speed he wanted. But then again look at all the auto-accidents caused by people who don’t follow the speed limits. Overall the situation is that Thomas doesn’t want the police officer there so he can go any speed he wants to, so therefore Thomas doesn’t show any respect to the officer. This reason for disrespect is true in many other situations. For example: children often disrespect their parents because they set and enforce rules which the children don’t like. Students don’t respect their teachers because they assign homework and enforce school rules. Workers don’t respect their bosses because they give out to much work or to short of deadlines. And so on. Most of these authorities are just doing their job. Those under them though don’t like the job and wish the authorities gone, so they disrespect them.
Now don’t get me wrong here. This is not the only reason behind disrespect. There are as many good and valid reasons for disrespecting someone as there are bad and selfish ones. But this is one of the main causes of disrespect. This type of disrespect is so annoying for one main reason. In most of these situations, it’s not that hard to show some respect! Seriously! How hard is it to realize that those over you are only trying to do their jobs and disrespecting them only makes their lives harder. Is it so hard to give them a break and show a little respect, regardless of your opinions of them? It might not be a bad thing to consider, especially as we head out into the world. For someday we will undoubtedly be in a situation were we have others under us, and quite likely some of them will not respect us. If we learn how to respect others now we will better know how to handle situations with the disrespectful in the future. And something else to consider: By showing respect to those in authority over you, you make their lives easier and they in turn, will make your life easier.

News April 16

Loopholes Let Gun Smuggling to Mexico Flourish
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15guns.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Problems on the Mexican border just keep getting bigger. And Mexico isn’t very happy about it. Mexico is blaming the U.S. for their extremely well armed drug cartels. And there’s a reason. According to Federal agents about 90 percent of the 12,000 pistols and rifles that Mexican authorities recovered from drug dealers last year were traced back to the United States. Though the A.T.F. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have stepped up efforts, the gun smuggling problem is still growing.

Jobs are still roadblock on path to recovery
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30211915/
Is the economy improving? Are we coming out of the recession? Yes we are, but don’t get your hopes to high. According to John W. Schoen, the senior producer for msnbc.com, ‘It’s still about jobs, jobs, jobs.’ Even though things seem to be improving and President Obama is very hopeful, everything still depends on jobs. Because no jobs means no spending. And even when jobs do improve ‘there still will be plenty of work to clean up the financial mess’ according to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

N Korea orders UN inspectors out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7999024.stm
Apparently UN talks with North Korea didn’t do what they were supposed to. A while ago North Korea agreed to cooperate with the UN’s policies on nuclear testing and attend talks. But North Korea has now put an end to that. Pyongyang has ordered all IAEA personal and equipment out of their country. This was done in response to controversy over the April 5th launch of a rocket. And the controversy is still continuing, as North Korea stated that the ‘April 5th launch was aimed at putting a communications satellite in orbit.’ Many other nations believe that it was a long-range missile test though.

Thai authorities order arrest of 14 people after protests
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/thailand.political.chaos/index.html?eref=rss_world
In Thailand Tuesday a mass arresting of “red shirt” protest leaders occurred. 14 anti-government leaders, including a former prime minister, were arrested. Four of the leaders surrendered to the police while others vowed to regroup and continue their protests to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of several “red shirt” leaders including Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister, Jakrapob Penkair, Veera Musikapong and Nuttavut Saikuea, according to Maj. Gen. Tritot Ronnaritivichai. 123 people, including two dozen soldiers, were wounded in the arrests, while two were killed.

Do you respect a lack of respect?

Has anyone noticed the lack of respect that people tend to have anymore? It’s everywhere. You can see it in children who don’t respect their parents, students who don’t respect their teachers, workers who don’t respect their bosses, and millions of others who don’t respect the authorities that have been put over them. It’s extremely annoying too. (I mean is it that hard to show a little respect?) Do these people who seem to lack respect ever wonder why those others were put in positions over them, or how they feel when they aren’t respected as they should be? After all there are reasons why there are others in authority over us. And very legitimate ones at that. Have you ever thought about what the world would be like without authorities or leaders? It would be utter Chaos! I mean sure there would be certain groups of people who could organize and govern themselves, but only by appointing leaders. And everywhere else would just be horrible. Without leaders and authorities everything that even hinted at order and functionality within groups of people would disappear. Maybe it would not be this extreme but it would still be pretty bad. So what does the concept of the absence of authorities have to do with the lack of respect for those authorities? Well, have you ever thought about what exactly a lack of respect for someone is? When someone shows a lack of respect, usually for someone else, they are really implying that they wish that other person didn’t exist. Let’s look at an illustration of this concept. Say Thomas, we’ll call him, doesn’t respect his local police officer, because Thomas drives just a little to fast the police officer always pulls him over and gives him a ticket. The truth of the matter is this: that the police officer is just doing his job, maybe a little over zealously, but doing it nonetheless; and Thomas really should drive at the speed limit, not above it. Thomas doesn’t respect the officer because Thomas really just wishes that the officer were gone, because Thomas really just wants to drive whatever speed he wants to. And if the officer wasn’t there, then Thomas could go whatever speed he wanted. But then again look at all the auto-accidents caused by people who don’t follow the speed limits. Overall the situation is that Thomas doesn’t want the police officer there so he can go any speed he wants to, so therefore Thomas doesn’t show any respect to the officer. This reason for disrespect is true in many other situations. For example: children often disrespect their parents because they set and enforce rules which the children don’t like. Students don’t respect their teachers because their teachers because they assign homework and enforce school rules. Workers don’t respect their bosses because they give out to much work or to short of deadlines. And so on. All most of these authorities are doing is their job, but because those under them don’t like the authorities job and wish these authorities gone, they disrespect them. Now don’t get me wrong here. This is not the only reason behind disrespect. There are as many good and valid reasons for disrespecting someone as there are bad and selfish ones. But this is one of the main causes of disrespect. This type of disrespect is so annoying for one main reason. In most of these situations, it’s not that hard to show some respect! Seriously! How hard is it to realize that those over you are only trying to do their jobs and disrespecting them only makes their life harder. Is it so hard to give them a break and show a little respect, regardless of your opinions of them? It might not be a bad thing to consider, especially as we head out into the world. For someday we will undoubtedly be in a situation were we have others under us, and quite likely one of them will not respect us. If we learn how to respect others now we will better know how to handle situations with the disrespectful in the future. And something else to consider: By showing respect to those in authority over you, you make their lives easier and they in turn, will make your life easier.

Music Review: Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End

Do you like soundtracks and instrumental music which portrays strong emotion? Then the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the CD for you. This CD has 13 songs including ‘Hoist the Colours’, ‘What shall we die for’ and ‘Parlay’. About half of these songs are the generic Pirates of the Caribbean style that you would expect. But the other half have new twists and emotions about them. For example ‘Hoist the Colours’ and ‘What shall we die for’ are the only two songs out of all of the three Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack songs that include singing. They both feature the song ‘Hoist the Colours’ which is sung by the pirates in the movie. This adds a new and unique element to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks. Another unique song is the Asian sounding ‘Singapore’. This song adds a whole new face to At World’s End by characterizing a place through the music. For indeed this song brings vivid images of rickety buildings and bridges built over misty waterways filled with yelling, fighting Asian pirates. Another song helps to add something new to this soundtrack; ‘Parlay’. This song betrays intense emotion as it mixes in a common ‘wild west’ standoff song. This helps this soundtrack song to really do its job, which is to complete and complement the scene it matches with. The composer, Hanz Zimmer (nicknamed “Long John”), did a wonderful job on the mood and tone of this CD. He sets the tone as generally quiet yet strong and determined. The mood of the music is very obvious and strong. It has an overall sad undertone, but not as in a ‘poor me’ sadness, it’s more of a respectful sadness; like when people gather together to remember all the Jews killed in the Holocaust or all our fallen soldiers. The very music itself seems to quietly whisper of the pirates’ fate as if it knew what was going happen. And as you listen more it really is as if the music knew the struggles the pirates were going through also. For indeed it continually strengthens its beat at places as if to signify the collecting of drums and arms in preparation for war. But the music doesn’t just portray the pirates’ resilience it also shows their desperation, sadness and unity in remembrance of days gone by. For there are times when the steady beat slows and the music wails in sadness as if to lament for the pirates. There are also times when it seems to quiet and the beat seems to fade after an intense moment as if the pirates were in despair after a defeat. Then there are other times when the music style changes altogether to a quiet, gentle almost dreamish effect, which allow one to envision the glorious days of old and all the happy moments spent together that may all soon be gone. Overall the CD, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a masterpiece, worthy of praise and much repeated listening to. Hanz Zimmer really did his best on this one, and it can be heard.

News April 2

Hundreds feared Dead off the Coast of Libya
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/31/libya.boat.sinks/index.html?eref=rss_world
Stormy seas caused catastrophes off the coast of Libya for thousands of African immigrants fleeing to Europe. High winds and heavy seas capsized several boats on Tuesday. More than 200 are confirmed dead with many more in question. 373 have been rescued. This migration of peoples came during the main smuggling season, and was caused by desperate conditions in the peoples home countries. "This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," the U.N. agency said.

New CEO: More GM plant closings possible
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102563224&ft=1&f=1001
GM is considering the closing of more plants in order to meet the tougher requirements for government aid. They also need to cut more labor costs and get more concessions from bondholders. The company has 60 days to do all this. Their former CEO Rick Wagoner also just resigned, and Fritz Henderson stepped in as new CEO. The company is trying to avoid bankruptcy by making these radical changes.

Iran Signals Willingness to Join U.S. In Fight Against Afghan Drug Trade
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/31/iranian-diplomats-meet-afghan-conference/
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended an international conference on Afghanistan Tuesday. This conference allowed U.S. and Iranian diplomats to take baby steps towards thawing tensions between their countries. Iran's Mehdi Akhundzadeh also met with Richard Holbrooke. This meeting “did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned and they agreed to stay in touch," Clinton told reporters. The conference was day long and though it helped the relations between Iran and the U.S. was not much improved.

Italy Pushes For Steps to End Illegal Immigration Problem
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-31-voa47.cfm
Italy’s Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni is pushing to end the illegal immigration problem. And Italy backs him. After the tragedy Tuesday with the immigrants off the coast of Libya, Italians are pushing even harder for this traffic to end. Italy is now taking extra measures to keep these immigrants out.