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Weekly Geopolitical
events

By Keating Smith,
Contributor

Africa: (Rwanda)
Victoire Ingabire, the
opposition political
leader in Rwanda, has
been sentenced to eight
years in prison. Ingabire
is charged with treason
and contributing to attri-
butes of genocide that
occurred in the country
18 years ago. Ingabire

fled Rwanda and lived
abroad for 16 years
and returned in 2010
with hopes of running
for president, at which
time she was arrested.

North America: (United
States) New York

City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg publically
announced his endorse-
ment for Barak Obama
after Hurricane Sandy
wreaked havoc on the
Eastern seaboard. The
independent party mayor
said Obama has “taken
major steps to combat
climate change, [and has]
won some important
victories on education
and health care, and
shares his values on
abortion and gay rights.”

South America:
(Argentina) The voting
age in Argentina has

Does Wreck-It Ralph

By Angela Espinoza,
Arts Editor

a | a

Wr Ralph finally
came out last
Friday, November 2. In
some ways the film was
exactly as I expected,
which unfortunately isn’t
perfect, but I was also
pleasantly surprised.
Wreck-It Ralph,
Disney’s latest Pixar-free
animated film, tells the
story of the fictional
“Fix-It Felix Jr.” character
Ralph (John C. Reilly),
an arcade game bad guy
who wants to prove he’s
good. Ralph begins to
jump between the other
games in the arcade,

6

something harshly
looked down upon by
the other characters, in
order to find a medal
worthy of a hero. And
then, depending on who
you are, things may

get disappointing.

Ralph doesn’t game
jump beyond two games,
which is obviously a
bummer. More so when
you see how much detail
and parody are placed in
the two games, “Hero’s
Duty” and “Sugar
Rush,” the latter being
where we spend 75 per
cent of the movie.

For a lot of people, as
soon as we leave Grand
Central Station, where all
the arcade game charac-
ters hang out, the movie
loses its luster. Honestly
though, while I did have

been lowered from 18

to 16 and won final
approval by a vote of 131
to 2 in the lower house
of Congress last week.
According to Al Jazeera,
skeptics say the new law
is aimed at drumming
up support for president
Cristina Fernandez
before the scheduled
legislative elections in
2013, while supporters
say the measure aims to
bring Argentina in line
with surrounding coun-
tries that have already
lowered the voting age to
people as young as 16.

Asia- Pacific: (Burma)
Asia’s second poorest
country made interna-
tional headlines twice
this week after 130
refugees fleeing from
violence in the western
region of the country
drowned after the der-

need some fi xing?

to sleep on the thought,
the film definitely works.
The characters of
Ralph, disturbed badass
Sergeant Calhoun
(Jane Lynch), and the
delightfully sweet Felix
(Jack McBrayer) are all
amazing, and then we
have what will be many
people’s deal breaker,
Vanellope von Schweetz
(Sarah Silverman). While
she is indeed annoying, I
actually found her cute,
and argue if you will,
but Ralph and her story
go nicely hand in hand.
The film is a labour
of love, so I don’t think
anyone will be entirely
disappointed. My advice
is to keep an open
mind going in, and you
may come out loving
it as much as I did.

elict fishing vessel they
were onboard capsized
on Halloween. The World
Bank announced the
following day that the
country will receive an
$80-million grant from
the financial institution
for the first time in 25
years, which will go
towards building and
developing infrastructure
in the rural areas.

Europe: (Russia) The
Russian government has
signed into a bill obliging
Russian Internet provid-
ers to block websites
with banned content

and putting responsibil-
ity on state agencies

and non-governmental
organizations to search
for such sites, according
to Russia Today. Websites
including child pornog-
raphy, information on
illegal drugs, and also

a
. a

suicide instructions are
now being blocked in an
attempt to protect young
children in Russia.

Middle East: (Egypt) The
Egyptian government is
imposing a new curfew
in which restaurants

and shops must close
between 10 p.m. and
midnight, in an effort to
conserve electricity in the
nation’s capital and one
of most crowded cities in
the world. In a country
with plenty of political
change, skeptics say

that the move will cost
the economy billions of
dollars in lost revenue,
as most shops and res-
taurants conduct most of
their business during the
late night- early morn-
ing hours of the day.