THE WEEK IN REVIEW: JANUARY 24-30, 2016

JANUARY 31 IS INDEPENDENCE DAY IN NAURU.

FEBRUARY 4 IS THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE USO.

AMONGST EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD THIS PAST WEEK...

*Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has been elected the new President of the Portuguese Republic.
*Hilda Heine has been elected President of the Marshall Islands by local Parliament, becoming the country's first female president.
*In France: taxi drivers, air traffic controllers and school teachers have gone on strike over working conditions and competition from non-traditional services such as Uber.
*A computer program called AlphaGo, powered by DeepMind, beat the European Go champion Fan Hui, 5-0, in the ancient Chinese abstract strategy board game.


TERRIBLE TERRORIST ACTIVITIES...
*Boko Haram suicide bombers killed at least 32 people and injured 66 others in northern Cameroon.
*An ISIS/ISIL suicide bomber killed at least 22 people, including a dozen soldiers at a Syrian Army checkpoint in Homs.
*Several more suicide bomber attacks have been reported across the Middle East this past week.

PASSING PARADE...
*Actor Frank Finlay (The Pianist, The Three Musketeers) has taken his last bow on life's stage.
*Paul Kantner, musician and co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, is no longer with us.
*Marvin Minsky, famous scientist in the field of Artificial Intelligence, has passed away.
*Actor Abe Vigoda (The Godfather, Barney Miller, Fish) has taken his last bow on life's stage.
*British explorer Henry Worsley died while attempting to be the first person to cross Antarctica unaided.

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...
POLITICALLY...
*The race to determine who shall be the next President of the United States begins in earnest with the Iowa Caucuses February 1st.
*While he still will not discuss his plans post-January 2017, President Barack Obama has publicly stated that, even if was legal for him to do so, he would not have sought a third term.
ELSEWHERE...

*U.S. federal authorities have finally arrested militia leader Ammon Bundy and several of his followers following an exchange of gunfire at a traffic stop on U.S. Route 395 in Harney County, Oregon.
*New York State park system officials have proposed a temporary "shut off" of the American Falls portion of Niagara Falls within three years to replace two 115-year-old pedestrian stone bridges that are unsafe.
*Facebook and its photo-sharing subsidiary Instagram, have officially banned private, person-to-person sales of guns via its services.
*A "mega yacht" is suspected of destroying 80% of West Bay's protected Caribbean coral reef.
*BELIEVE IT OR NOT: A Kentucky high school student was forced to kneel so school officials could determine whether or not her dress was too short!
*The 50th Super Bowl will be between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers February 7th.

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