Mega Mecca Construction

               Over the past few years, Mecca has benefited benevolently in terms of infrastructure. Italian photographer Luca Locatelli, visited Mecca this year during the time of umrah. He manage to capture how radiant and radically the city had changed. The capacity of the site has been expanding since  late 1970. The cost of the projected was estimated to be around $26.6 billion. The man purpose was to expand the capacity of the Grand Mosque. Features that were planned to be added include: new wings, prayers areas, escalators and hundreds of bathrooms.

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/mecca-goes-mega.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below

Example of the day of a pilgrimage
Image provided by Sacredsites.com

Drug Enhancers in Today's Sports

Drugs have been a major part of society since the early ages. We have always used it to "better" ourselves in certain things. Sports have always been the main reason. Popular tennis player, Maria Sharapova, has been caught using performance enhancing drugs. This is a controversial subject as Sharapova is a five-time Grand Slam champion but has recently been going down in popularity due to her injuries restricting her performance. She was found out to be using dope as a substitute to help her. Sharapova as well is the highest paid woman in tennis today. This is unfair for many other players who choose not to take drugs. Although this is such a widely circulated problem throughout sports, drugs are still being used and not really looked after. Now Sharapova has been banned from playing tennis for 2 years and might be doing more damage to her already falling career.


Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/sports/tennis/maria-sharapova-doping-suspension.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Welcome to Ireland!!

We visited Japan, Syria, England and now it's Ireland . Since the blog is ending, I'll shorten it.

By: Jade Stephen 

Ireland: 



Location: Island in the North Atlantic 

Neighboring Countries: It isn't really surrounded by countries. It's surrounded by water since it's an island. It's neighboring waters are the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and Saint George's Channel.

Spoken Language: Irish and English

Capital: Dublin 

Dominant Religion: Catholicism 

Food: Boxty, Slow Cooker Beef Stew, Irish Brown Bread and many more

 





Traditional Clothing: 


Sources: 

http://www.food.com/ideas/traditional-irish-foods-6326

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Boxty_with_beef_and_squash.jpg

http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipeimages/slow-cooker-hearty-beef-stew-large-25655.jpg

https://greattobeirish.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/bread-1.jpg

http://www.mackilts.com/images/slideshows/Men/IanSharpe.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f9/44/88/f94488c479c6f282385870b8c40ff133.jpg

U.S Militant Arrested For Abandonment of Japanese Woman

Okinawa anti-U.S military citizens protest against bases stationed
Kyodo News Via Associated Press

     In Okinawa, anti-U.S. military citizens became outraged after a U.S. militant abandoned a the corpse of a Japanese woman who went missing. It has been under suspicion that the suspect would appear to be a militant stationed at the U.S. base in Okinawa. Although he has been arrested, he has not been charged with murder nor is there any evidence to prove his guiltiness. The governor of Okinawa was extremely disappointed to hear of this and hurt him emotionally. U.S. officials themselves are in sorrow as they are saddened by this sudden event. The U.S. ambassador vowed that they will double their efforts in order to prevent anything like this from happening again. 

Source:http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-japan-okinawa-arrest-20160520-snap-story.html

Asian-Americans Demand to be Represented in Films

Hollywood is a tough place to get accustomed to. Not everyone can become a movie star overnight, like so many would like to hope it would. You got to have the right looks, the right figure, the right everything basically. Asian-Americans on the other hand haven't really broken into Hollywood fame. Unlike actors like Lee Byung Hun (G.I. Joe), Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels), Bruce Lee (Fist of Fury) and Jackie Chan (The Karate Kid), many other Asian actors find it hard to find a role in such a uniform film industry. Slowly but steadily, Asian-American actors have been breaking into mainstream media, with shows such as Fresh Off The Boat, which features an entirely Asian cast. Yet, we still see some discrimination as Hollywood is taking Asian characters and instead of using Asian actors, they change the role to fit a white actor. This can be seen in the movie Aloha, where actress Emma Stone is portraying a quarter Chinese, quarter Native-American pilot Allison Ng. The popular Japanese manga, Death Note, is set to have an adaptation done, but many are outraged as the hero of the book, Light Yagami, is gonna be played by actor Nat Wolff; someone not of Asian descent whatsoever. We see this a lot in films and TV shows but many of us don't even think twice about it. It's normal, it's just how it is in the industry, we say. Yet, if we don't get diversity now, when will we ever? I feel that in order for us to feel less alone in society and more accepted that we should break the cultural barriers that we've grown so accustomed to. It's time for everyone, no matter race, gender, or sexuality, should be able to be represented the way they see themselves.

For the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/movies/asian-american-actors-are-fighting-for-visibility-they-will-not-be-ignored.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Mohammad Khalid

Mohammad Khalid
The refugee crisis has been a hot topic for quite a while now. On Wednesday, Greece got additional relief only if they continue to carry out their work in the country. This is great for both Greece and the refugees because they both get relief and will benefit from the money coming in. In addition, Greece is going economic crisis and as well as refugee crisis. In the past year, Greece's debt has been piling up and is caused huge economic problems in the country. According to New York Times Article, "Euro-zone Agrees to Debt Relief and Bailout Aid for Greece," US Secretary Jacob Lew has volunteered to help Greece with their financial crisis.

Welcome to England!!!!!!

So we've visited Japan and Syria. Now we're off to the United Kingdom where we will be staying for a while before we jump around to somewhere else. I chose England specifically out of all the other nations because I want to know more about it. I love how weird and different it is from America especially when they influenced us the most in history. Well now lets travel to the UK and see what England has for us. Including how far we've traveled is so much work and people barely read long numbers so vaminos.  

By: Jade Stephen


England: 




Location: United Kingdom 

Neighboring Countries: Scotland and Wales

Spoken Language: English

Capital: London

Dominant Religion: Christianity ( they allow other religions but it's mainly Christianity) 

Food: Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Yorksire Pudding and many more







Traditional Clothing: ( pretty sure they don't wear that anymore)  

      


Sources:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi63oyYieTMAhVJOz4KHQqcBOcQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedu-geography.com%2Fcountries%2Fengland.html&psig=AFQjCNGtZRyMVtV6ZVvYMD5FR768LXgAuQ&ust=1463676271277186

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/food/dishes.htm

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwju5P65iuTMAhXDOT4KHUoyCvEQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsilk.com%2Frecipes%2Fmommy%25E2%2580%2599s-yummy-lactose-free-yorkshire-pudding&bvm=bv.122129774,d.cWw&psig=AFQjCNFe7Qxgie8fR-E4HgaabqPb8MNTtw&ust=1463676498286024


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=imgres&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgateway-tcr.com%2Fgatewaydev%2Fthe-bank%2F&psig=AFQjCNHZhnLP5G0XNziqIaGm7006mssveQ&ust=1463676549991793


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi7oq6ViuTMAhXCVT4KHUc4A9cQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodnetwork.com%2Frecipes%2Fina-garten%2Fbangers-and-mash-recipe.html&psig=AFQjCNG0eX3w8FGGk6XlotvCg0iBvDjJpw&ust=1463676532794568

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/costume.html