1. For each of the 5 countries, give the following information:
a) the continent on which it is located
b) the name of the capital city
c) the type of government
d) the chief of state (and head of government if different)
e) the population

[Find the answers at the CIA World FactBook website. For each country: type of government, capital and executive branch (chief of state/head of government) can be found under the "Government" heading; population is listed under the "People" heading.  Go to worldatlas.com for a list of continents.]

2. For Iraq:
a) list the who, what, where and when of the news item
b) During the Halabja poison gas attack in 1988, chemical weapons were used by the Iraqi government against the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. The attack instantly killed thousands of people (3,200-5,000 dead instantly) and injured 7,000-10,000, most of them civilians; thousands more died of complications, diseases, and birth defects in the years after the attack. The incident, which ... was an act of genocide..., was the largest-scale chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history. (from wikipedia.org)
Why were the three previous death sentences that Ali received for ordering the massacre of civilians not carried out?

3. For Afghanistan:
a) list the who, what, where and when of the news item
b) Why is this video important to the U.S.?

4. For Somalia:
a) list the who, what, where and when of the news item
b) Do you think commercial shipping lines should pay ransoms to pirates to recover their ship, cargo and crew? Explain your answer.

5. For Chile:
a) list the who, what, where and when of the news item
b) What is significant about Mr. Pinera's victory?

6. For United Arab Emirates:
a) list the who, what, where and when of the news item
b) What is the International Renewable Energy Agency? (Do an internet search for the answer.)
c) Why was Mr. Landau's visit significant?

7. We'd love to hear from you - what do you think of a world news briefs section? Email Editors@StudentNewsDaily.com with your comments.