1. Saudi Arabia and Iran cut ties
On Sunday Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran due to the execution of a Shiite Muslim cleric the day before. Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Jubeir, made an announcement that Iran had 48 hours to remove all diplomats and shut down all of their offices in Saudi Arabia. The two countries are only speaking and relating for business terms, other than that there is no longer contact. For more information click here.
Armed protester won’t leave Oregon refuge
An armed militia group in Oregon took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, they constructed this in rebellion against the U.S. government. They were also protesting prison sentences handed to Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, they were convicted of arson after burning 139 acres of federal land in 2001. For the full story click here.
Chinese market plunge
The global stocks stumbled into 2016, hopes for a better year were met with some dismay when China’s economy didn’t meet the growth that was hoped for. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 467 points in morning trading before recovering slightly. Not only did China stumble, but the U.S. points remained a bit low as well. These declines marked the worst first day of trading since 2008. To see the full coverage click here.
U.S. sues Volkswagen
On Monday the U.S. took the company to court and sued them for illegally installing devices in nearly 600,000 diesel engine systems to impair emissions controls, this increases air pollution. In September similar charges were brought up against VW, but little to no action was taken as the court stopped just short of criminal charges, they didn’t single out individuals as was hoped. Click here for the full story.
Periodic table welcomes four new elements.
The periodic table’s seventh row was finally completed as four new elements were added. The elements were discovered by Japanese, Russian, and American scientists, these elements are the first to be added since 2011. The reward of the discovery of element 113 went to Japanese scientists from the Riken Institute in Japan. For full coverage look here.
