5 Major Summer Events
By Kelsey Wong
As Autumn falls into place, Summer slowly fades away, along with an array of notable news. Here’s a quick list of some events that hit the front-page this summer.
5. On July 4, 2012, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that it had discovered a new subatomic particle, possibly the Higgs-Boson particle which has been searched for since the 1970’s. The Higgs-Boson particle was nicknamed the “God Particle” because of it’s importance to understanding the universe. If the Higgs-Boson particle is proven to exist, it would show that mankind’s understanding of how the world works is correct.
4. The 2012 Summer Olympics was held in London, England from July 27 to August 12. With 204 nations totaling over 10,800 participating athletes in the London Games, it was without a doubt one of the most covered events in the summer. The London Games can be summed up nicely in a beat: records were broken, hearts were broken, timers were broken (reference to Shin A Lam fencing controversy anyone?), and NBC’s live broadcast of the Men’s 100m was broken (into pieces, that is).
3. Curiosity, the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, landed on Mars on August 6, 2012. Live video and footage of Curiosity’s landing was shown on NASA TV along with a 13 minute clip posted on Youtube. Bobak Ferdowsi, the Flight Director for Curiosity’s landing became an Internet sensation, gaining over 45,000 followers on Twitter mainly due to his Mohawk hairstyle with stars.
2. From July 30-31, over 620 million people in India experienced a series of power outages, leaving about half of India’s population without electricity and disturbing the water supply. The 2012 India blackout was the largest power outage in history. According to the New York Times, during the outage, the blame was tossed back and forth between different parties and state governments, causing much confusion of what the actual source of the problem was.
1. On August 25, 2012, over 350 people were reported dead as a result of the Syrian civil war. It is the highest single-day death toll so far. The Syrian Civil War, also known as the Syrian Uprising, started in March of 2011, and has been continuing ever since. Protesters demand for the resignation of President Bashar Al-Assad and are calling for an end to the ruling of the Ba’ath Party. According to CNN, since the beginning of the Uprising, over 26,000 people have been killed. The United Nations says that over 1 million people were displaced internally due to the Uprising.
