Andrew Reiff

International

Summary- Fires in Greece

In recent days Greece has been on fire. According to the Fire department spokesman more than half of the country is burning. Entire villages have been evacuated as the fires sweep through, and dozens have been found dead. On Sunday the death toll was 11, today it skyrocketed to 60. The worst of the damage is being done in the mountains of the Peloponnese, as rescuers found dozens of burned bodies. The fires have even reached to the foot of the ancient Olympic site, which was completed in 776 B.C., and were home to the Olympics for over 1000 years. Most of the fires are suspected of being the work of arsons, as 60 new fires broke out on Sunday. The government is offering a reward of over 1 million dollars to people who supply information leading to the arrest of an arsonist. Fires are typical in the dry Grecian summer but there has never been anything like this, with smoke blocking the sun. The streched firefighting service has been reinforced by nearly 4000 soldiers, and 12 countries are giving aid.

Opinion

I have never seen any fires even approaching this kind of destruction... I mean over half of the entire country of Greece is on fire! Ancient ruins are in danger of being destroyed, and the government is out of firefighters, and even volunteers are throwing buckets of water and using hoses. More fires are breaking out daily and they are expanding too fast for them to be extinguished. Of course they are being set by arsonists, but the only question is who? The article says that developers set fires on forest lands to get around the laws, but who would want to live in a country that has no forests? For that reason I think that maybe develpors have started some of these fires, probably the first couple, but no company would willingly destroy their country. My only remaining conclusion is terrorists. Think about it... fires are cheap and easy to set when the foilage is dry, and they have the potential to do millions of dollars worth of damage and to terrorize and kill scores of people. Really all a terrorist needs to do is get into the country, which they have proven is easy. Also I think the US should send some firefighting planes or helicopters over there as well as some of Arizona's elite Hot Shots. The addition of a few more well-trained firefighters would be very very welcome and would improve our alliance with them.

National

Summary- Teen "Unlocks" iPhone

George Hotz, a 17 year old from Glen Rock, NJ, has found a way to make the iPhone work on any cellular phone network, including overseas. The hack is very complicated and requires soldering and software skills. Hotz has posted the method on his blog, as simple as he could so other people can duplicate what he did, however since it is hard to do, only hobbyists would be able to do it, and one bad move and the phone is ruined. Hotz put his unlocked iPhone up for sale on eBay and it sold for over twelve thousand dollars.

Opinion

Good for this kid! He had a goal, to unlock the iPhone and he successfully accomplished it. After spending 500 hours on it, roughly 3 weeks straight, he made a nice profit. This kid is probably going to do something great when he gets his degree in neuroscience, which he started this week.