THE WEEK IN REVIEW: MARCH 16-22, 2014

TODAY IS WORLD WATER DAY, TO ACKNOWLEDGE

HOW PRECIOUS THIS NATURAL RESOURCE IS.

AMONGST EVENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED AROUND THE WORLD THIS PAST WEEK...
*As the search for evidence indicating the fate of missing Malaysia Flight 370 continues, MSN reports that some families of the missing passengers and crew now claim that they have been lied to about the overall situation, the search process, and its progress.
*The Thailand Constitutional Court has declared the February 2 general election invalid because the event was staggered and not held on the exact same day across the country.
*The results of an online referendum show Venice is willing to secede from Italy!
*Turkey has restricted its citizens' access to Twitter after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the social network because of allegedly publishing politically sensitive documents.
*Syria and the United States have ended all diplomatic relations.
*Scientists have found evidence to prove the theory of cosmic inflation: that the universe is expanding.
*Civil unrest continues in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Syria.

FROM THE UKRAINE AND CRIMEA...
*Crimea has voted to leave the Ukraine and rejoin Russia, which has since accepted the region into its federation. Meanwhile, other countries are condemning the referendum because the only option on the ballot was whether or not to secede and never mentioned the possibility of staying aligned with the Ukraine.
*Russian officials that participated in the secession face sanctions from other countries, who are applying even more sanctions against Russia itself.
*Skirmishes are reported as Russian forces have taken over former Ukrainian Naval and Air Force bases.
*As the Ukraine signed an association accord with the European Union, Transnistria, another country on the Ukraine border, has filed a formal petition to join the Russian Federation.

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...
*The Democratic Party says Republican aligned super-pacs have spent millions of dollars on misleading advertising against their candidates well in advance of the upcoming November 2014 general elections.
*The United States Senate is investigating whether or not the Central Intelligence Agency has spied on that portion of Congress.
*Toyota has been fined $1.2 Billion dollars (US) to settle claims that it lied to safety investigators in the United States and the general public about accelerator defects.
*A federal judge has overturned Michigan's ban on same gender marriages.
*The NCAA College Basketball tournaments are underway for both the Men's and Women's Divisions.

FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN OUR BLOGGER PUBLICATION HISTORY, THE FREE CHOICE E-ZINE HAS RECEIVED (AS OF MARCH 20, 2014) OVER 3000+ PAGE VIEWS FROM OUR LOYAL READERS !



For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: MARCH 2-8, 2014

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

A study by the University of California (USA) shows that Vitamin D increases the survival chances of breast cancer patients.

Amongst events happening around the world this past week...
*AUTHORITIES ARE STILL LOOKING FOR MALAYSIA FLIGHT 370, MISSING WITH 239 PEOPLE ON BOARD.
The plane, en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared over the Gulf of Thailand with no word of anything being amiss beforehand.
*Pope Francis has acknowledged that same gender civil unions is a matter that should be addressed by local governments for economic and health management.
*The 2014 Winter Paralympics begin in Sochi, Russia.
*Andrus Ansip has resigned as Prime Minister of Estonia.
*Venezuela has cut off diplomatic ties with Panama, claiming that country is "a lackey of the United States". Meanwhile, thousands of Venezuelan citizens took to the streets early March 8 to protest food shortages in that country.
*Civil unrest continues in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria.

FROM THE UKRAINE AND CRIMEA
*Crimea allegedly wants to rejoin the Russian government willingly. A special referendum on the matter is scheduled to go to voters March 16th.
*United Nations envoy Robert Serry was ordered to leave Crimea at gunpoint!
*The Ukraine Navy's Commander-In-Chief has defected to Russia, but no ships or additional personnel went with him.
*Lithuania and Poland are both closely watching their borders with the conflict in progress, although Russian troops have been recalled to that country's current border.
*News anchor Liz Wahl resigned on-air in the middle of a news cast, saying she could not be part of the RT (Russia Today) network's "white washing of events".

PASSING PARADE
*Actress Shelia MacRae has left the stage.
*Actor and game show host Geoff Edwards is no longer with us.

Within the United States of America...
*Congress attempted, and failed, at their FIFTIETH attempt of repealing "Obama Care" this week, despite the fact that millions of Americans now have health care coverage under that plan who didn't have any insurance before.
*At the 86th Annual Academy Awards March 2 included 12 Years A Slave winning Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o); Gravity winning Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron), Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects; Dallas Buyers Club having the Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey) and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto); Cate Blanchett winning Best Actress for Blue Jasmine; and Frozen winning Best Animated Picture and Best Original Song ("Let It Go").
*Oppositely, at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards presented the night before, Movie 43 was declared Worst Movie and also won Worst Screenplay and a joint Worst Director award for the 13 people accredited in that position; Jaden Smith and his father Will won for Worst Actor, Worst Supporting Actor, and Worst Screen Combo respectively for After Earth; Tyler Perry won Worst Actress for A Madea Christmas; Kim Kardashian won Worst Supporting Actress for Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor; and The Lone Ranger won for Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake, or Rip-off.
*AND AMERICA "SPRINGS FORWARD" OVERNIGHT TONIGHT TO BEGIN ITS ANNUAL OBSERVANCE OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

FOR THE 31ST STRAIGHT MONTH IN A ROW, THE FREE CHOICE E-ZINE HAS RECEIVED 1000+ PAGE VIEWS FROM ITS READERSHIP!




For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.