User blog:WanderingSkull/September 2014 Monthly News Blog



For The Month Of September

World News

 * For the third time in 25 years, Argentina defaults on its debt. Standard & Poor's declares that the country is in default on some of its obligations after the government fails on an agreement with a group of bondholders. The creditors demand payment of approximately 1.5 billion for bonds that they purchased after Argentina's $144 billion default in 2001. The default may trigger an even bigger hike in inflation and cause the value of the peso to decrease even more. Argentina had previously defaulted in the early 2000s which led to widespread unemployment, riots, and the country defaulting upon its foreign loans.
 * After fighting for seven weeks and attempting several short-term cease-fires, Israel and Hamas agree to an open-ended cease-fire. The agreement comes after seven weeks of fighting and is also mediated by Egypt. The interim agreement still has Hamas in control of Gaza while Israel and Egypt still control access to Gaza, leaving no clear winner in this latest conflict. However, Hamas declares victory. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is criticized in Israel for how costly the conflict has been. Since the conflict began last month, 2,143 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, with more than 11,000 wounded and 100,000 left homeless. On Israel's side, 64 soldiers and six civilians have been killed. Both countries have been criticized both abroad and within their own nations for the conflict and loss of life within several weeks of conflict.
 * Representatives from the Ukrainian government, the Russian-backed separatists, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who had been meeting in Minsk, Belarus, announce that they have agreed on a cease-fire. The terms include an immediate end to fighting, the exchange of prisoners, amnesty for those who did not commit serious crimes, a 6-mile buffer zone along the Ukrainian-Russian border, decentralization of power in the Donbass region (the area dominated by the Russian-backed rebels), and the creation of a route to deliver humanitarian aid. The cease-fire continues to hold since September 5th as both sides continue to exchange of prisoners and allows for the region to have relief for the time being.
 * The United States has begun launching limited airstrikes in the regions held by ISIS Militants after the beheading of American journalist James Foley was released publicly on the internet. It has given the opportunity for militias and armed forces to launch counter-offensives upon the ISIS positions to take back parts of their country from the extremists. Barack Obama requests for a collation of nations to help assist in their efforts to ultimately defeat the ISIS.
 * IBM researchers funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have developed a computer chip with more than 5 billion transistors and mimics the functions of the human brain. Perhaps most significantly, the chip has extremely low power requirements, making it suitable for unmanned vehicles, ground robots and sensors that operate in remote areas where the availability of power is limited.

Pop-Culture News

 * Legendary American comedic actor Robin Williams is found dead. As the nation begins to mourn, details are released, including that Williams died by asphyxiation. Shrines honoring Williams pop up all over the country, including one in Boston on a bench in the Boston Common where a scene from Good Will Hunting was filmed. He is succeeded by his daughter Zelda Williams whom he had a close relationship with. As someone who has experienced his films from an early age, I sincerely hope he has found his peace.
 * Amazon has agreed to buy video game live-streaming website Twitch for $970 million, the companies announced Monday. Twitch has become a popular online destination for video game players, who use the website to stream live gameplay of titles across a variety of consoles and formats. Previously, Google had attempted to puchase Twitch, but the results were met with failure and resulted in Twitch now being purchased by Amazon.
 * Guardians Of The Galaxy is the highest grossing film in America this year with a total of $299,976,000. With this gross it has managed to beat the previous record holder this year, Captain America: The Winter Soldier another fellow Marvel film. In total, Guardians Of The Galaxy has managed to gross 591.6 million globally.

Birthdays in July
Were you born in September? Good for you, and if you wish to share your birthday with us leave a comment along and we'll be sure to give you a shout-out.
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Battle Of The Month
Battle Of The Month has returned after several delays which had prevented it from happening. Users will be able to nominate up to five different battles from the months of June, July, and August. Nominations will last till the 17th of this month with the poll ending on the 22nd.
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