Modern World History

Semester 1 2008/9, Current Events

From a foreign newspaper (see websites below), you will need to find a current event that is important to that country in some significant way, i.e. elections are being called (sports scores don’t count). You will then need to prepare a short news report on that item that tells us: 1) What the event is and who the players are, 2) any relevant background material that will help us to understand the issue, 3) why it is important to that country, and 4) is this event likely to affect the U.S. and how that might be. You will present the “report” to the class as a reporter from the country that you got the event from. You will need to hand in a typed or word processed copy of your news report, and the article.

Some of the websites will ask you to sign up for a free subscription. Others will ask you to pay for a subscription. For the free sites, it is your choice. Do NOT spend any money for this assignment. There are enough free options that you DO NOT HAVE to spend anything. Articles from the hardcopy version of The Economist will also work for this – it is a British newsmagazine published in both London and New York. Please be aware that some of these papers accept advertising from companies that are blocked by the school’s browsers. I highly recommend that you do not plan to complete this assignment in the few minutes available before class – it is highly likely that your grade will suffer from lack of preparation if you do not spend some time on your article.

Selected Websites:

The Times of London, (Britain) http://www.timesonline.co.uk

The Jerusalem Times, Weekly Palestinian paper: http://www.jerusalem‑times.net

Pravda, Russian Communist Daily: http://english.pravda.ru

Japan Times (Japan): http://www.japantimes.co.jp

Le Monde Diplomatique (France - in English): http://mondediplo.com

South China Morning Post (Hong Kong): http://www.scmp.com

Herald Sun (Australia): http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au

The Athens News (Greece): http://www.athensnews.gr

The Middle East Times (Egypt): http://metimes.com

Hindustan Times (India): http://www.hindustantimes.com

The Globe and Mail (Canada): http://www.globeandmail.ca/

Der Spiegel (The Mirror - Germany): http://www.spiegel.de (Click on the “English Site” menu option on the

left sidebar.)