Report: Germanwings crash co-pilot tested 100-foot descent setting

It is reported that the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had rehearsed putting the aircraft into a controlled descent  which was before the crash into the French Alps. This report which is from the BEA, is currently basing the analysis off of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. With this data, they are certain that there were many altitude selections towards 100 feet that were recorded during the descent while the co-pilot was all alone in the cockpit. The captain had only left the co-pilot alone for less than five minutes when this all went down. On the flight home from to Spain to Dusseldorf, the co-pilot is now blamed for slamming the Germanwings Flight into the French Alps. He killed all 150 people on board. Lubitz suffered from depression and while on the flight he refused to let the captain re-enter the cockpit. With this incident happening, many people want to be able to monitor the mental health of pilots. While the co-pilot was alone in the flight deck, he was asked to bring the plane down to a lower altitude. He chose to decrease the altitude to 100 feet for three seconds, increase back to 49,000 feet and then finally go back to 35,000 feet. The co-pilot kept changing the altitude several times. Since the co-pilot was asked to descend, the air traffic controllers would never notice his rehearsal of different altitude settings. They just assumed he was testing the parameters of the aircraft's systems. It can be considered that he was testing the computer system to see when the alarm bell might go off. During the descent, air traffic controllers were trying to call the flight crew 11 times even on three different frequencies but they didn't answers. The captain was trying desperately to get back into the cock pit. You could all hear this in the recorder and then all of a sudden the air plane crashed.

 Smith-Spark, Laura. "Report: Germanwings Co-pilot Practiced Crash Descent - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 6 May 2015. Web. 6 May 2015.  

Mysterious ailment in Nigeria kills victims within hours; 18 dead

There was a mysterious affliction that has killed 18 people in the southwest part of Nigeria. This has caused health officials are trying to determine the cause of this. Many of the cases have been happening since April 13. Currently, they have counted 18 dead and there are still 5 more people being treated. Many of the people that were affected were between the ages of 25 and 60. Luckily, they found out that the disease that is spreading around Nigeria is not contagious so people do not have to work about catching it. The health officials stated that the symptoms can include headaches, blurred vision, and loss of sight and unconsciousness. Many people are targeting the idea that this could be from locally brewed alcohol. There have many samples of blood, urine, and spinal fluid that have been sent to a university for tests. These tests ruled out infections from either viruses or bacteria. The doctors investigating these cases say they are going to carry out toxicological tests on some of the victims who have died to see what happened.



Mullen, Jethro and Ramos, Annie and Levs, Josh. "18 Dead from Mysterious Illness in Nigeria - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/19/africa/nigeria-mystery-illness/index.html>.

Kansas governor signs abortion law

There was a new law created in Kansas banning a common second-term abortion procedure. This is the first in the United States. The law was signed by the Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Tuesday. This bans a dismemberment abortion and is known as dismembering a living unborn child. Any supporters of the law has described it as a groundbreaking step. There are still many other people who consider this to be dangerous. While the law was being created, it did not spell out a specific time which can limit when the abortion can take place. One good thing is if the mother needs the procedure for her health, they will grant it to her. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Kansas criticized the move, and feels like it is denying the woman the right to obtain an abortion if it is necessary. Kansas is now known for having the most abortion restrictions than any other state. This will cause women to drive many miles to obtain an abortion that they want. These laws are drastically changing the things that women are going to have to do.

 "Kansas Law Bans 'dismemberment Abortion' - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/politics/kansas-abortion-law/index.html>.

Plane dropped from 38,000 feet without a distress call

There was a Germanwings flight that crashed into a remote corner of the French Alps, killing all 150 members that were on board. They have discovered the cockpit voice recorder which has raised hopes that they might be able to find the data they are looking for. So far, the conditions during these recovery times have been very poor and have to be very careful around the scene of the crash. The site of the crash is far from accessible on top of everything.There are many strange factors about this crash. When the plane was flying there was no distress call saying they needed help. Also, the plane crashed during mid-flight of their route.The plane dropped from 38,000 feet up in the air. The French minister said, rescuers have found one of the "black boxes" which is created to record all the sounds on a plane's flight deck. An official from BEA, stated that they are working on opening up the orange casing to try to access the computer chips. If the computer chips are not damaged they will be able to access all of the data. They are working hard on mapping the debris of the crash so they can figure out how this crash happened. Cazeneuve told BFMTV: "We cannot completely rule out terrorism, but it is not considered the most likely explanation at the moment. We need to let the investigation do its work." It is noted that the plane started descending around 10:31 a.m. and crashed around 10:53 a.m. They are currently working on figuring out all of the names of the victims that died from this terrible crash. 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/europe/germanwings-crash-main/index.html

Ukraine rebels take 'piecemeal' approach to ceasefire

On March 2nd, the US Secretary of State John Kerry, accused Russia of a 'piecemeal' approach to the ceasefire agreement for Ukraine. John Kerry stated that the rebels were withdrawing heavy weapons from selective areas. The Ukraine and the rebels both stated that they were going to withdraw weapons with the agreement that was made in Minsk last month. People have been monitoring and saw some weapons being moved but no one can claim it is a withdrawal. John Kerry warned Russia that if the ceasefire conditions were not met fully, they could face further sanctions. Kerry is positive that the truce will be met in full. There has been a fight between eastern Donetsk and Luhansk from last April. The report that was released stated that about 6,000 lives have been taken in the past few weeks and the number could rise dramatically. There have been reports from the Ukraine government, Western leaders, and NATO that state that Russia has been helping the rebels with weapons and even soldiers. Sergei Lavrov states that weapons have been moved from the front line for sure. The Russian FM told Ukraine government to create distance from any extremists and to promote economic recovery to certain areas. There was a heinous crime which was the murder of a Russian opposition politician. Finally, Kerry accused the Kremlin of bad behavior due to the support they were giving the pro-Russian fighters. There is still violence going on today in the eastern part of the country.

"Kerry to Tackle Lavrov on Ukraine." BBC News. Web. 2 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31688940>.

Boko Haram issues new threat against Niger and Chad

The group by the name of Boko Haram has issued a new threat against their neighboring countries Niger and Chad. They stated that they were prepared to send out fighters that would carry suicide bombings into their country. The neighboring states received the warning as they were holding a meeting in Cameroon's capital to finish a plan that would join forces for military to fight against this. Boko Haram feels like Niger is making a big mistake by joining forces and they will regret it. These countries are planning on putting together a force that will fight against Boko Haram. There are many countries that have offered to help Nigeria which are Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Benin, Burundi, and Central African Republic. This Islamic extremist group has fought many years against Nigeria's government which left around 10,000 people dead last year. With this violence it has lead many people no choice but to find refuge in Niger. Others were smart and left to neighboring countries to find shelter. On Monday, there were about 10 states that offered to help raise the $100 million that will be needed to fight against Boko Haram.

Kindzeka Moki, Edwin and Larson, Krista. Yahoo! News. Yahoo! Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://news.yahoo.com/boko-haram-issues-threat-against-niger-chad-135301544.html>.