International News Review- April 7, 2015

International News Review

April 7, 2015

I.               USA

a.     Cultural Awareness

                                               i.     Cuba

1.     President Obama and President Castro are attempting to establish Cuban- American relationships

2.     Obama’s administration officials are trying to upgrade Cuba’s telecommunications and provide more internet access

                                             ii.     Yemen

1.     The Red- Cross has been trying to provide medical aid to hospitals in Yemen

2.     The intensity of the fighting in Aden has prevented medical aid teams from helping

3.     Medical aid flights have been schedule but cannot reach Yemen by air because of airport damage

b.     Politics

1.     Rand Paul

a.     Many Republicans believe their party is not big enough to elect a president in 2016

b.     Rand Paul is taking a different approach and appealing to younger and minority voters by adding a libertarianism side

c.     Many Republican’s doubt Rand Paul’s strategy

d.     He would have to alter voting preferences that have been engrained for years

2.     Iran

a.      The framework nuclear agreement he reached with Iran on Thursday did not provide the definitive answer to whether Mr. Obama’s audacious gamble will pay off

b.     The possibility of a reconciliation after 36 years of hostility between Washington and Tehran now seems tantalizingly within reach

c.     However, the deal remains unsigned

d.     Currently, Obama has no foreign policy legacy.  A deal with Iran and the politics of the Middle East would be one of the better foreign policy legacies of any recent president

e.     Congress members, Republicans, and Democrats are concerned that Obama may be trading away American and Israeli security because he is so desperate to make a deal

II.             United Kingdom

a.     Economics

                                               i.     BG group and shell may be discussing a possible merger in 2015

                                             ii.     The mega- merger could produce a company with a combined market capitalization of more than 200bn Euros

                                            iii.     BG Group is Britain’s third largest energy company

                                            iv.     If the deal goes ahead the recent collapse in oil prices will have played a large part in it

b.     Politics

                                               i.      A labour government would abolish the non- domicile rule

                                             ii.     The rule allows the rich to limit the tax paid on earnings outside the UK

                                            iii.     100 young voters questioned representatives of the main parties

                                            iv.     There are about 115,000 so- called non- doms in Britain

                                             v.     The last labour government also tried to get rid of the non- dom rules but instead just made them more strict

                                            vi.     It is better for non- doms to pay taxes on their UK earnings rather than having them leave

                                          vii.     High earners should pay their fair share

c.     Cultural Awareness

                                               i.     Two boys have gone missing after traveling to Syria

                                             ii.     Two 17 year old boys are feared to be making their way to Syria to join Islamic State

                                            iii.     One of the boys’ brothers had been arrested in 2006 after police found a guide to making napalm on his computer

                                            iv.     The police’ primary concern is that the boys return safely home

                                             v.     Often times young Muslims feel as if they don’t belong in British culture and look to joining Terrorist groups as a way to fit in