A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing more than 8,700 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country’s worst quake in three decades.(yahoo news)Buried teenagers struggled to break free from the rubble, “while others were crying out for help,” Xinhua said. Xinhua reported 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and 216 others in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.(yahoo news) I feel that this earthquake was a disaster. People in china had no idea of an earthquake when they woke up that morning. The government should do all they can to help the victims and the victim’s families because these people are going through a lot. This earthquake killed a lot of what they owned. Now they have to go through more just to get back on their feet and back to the way they were living. Their lives will never be the same again.

Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” Plagiarism is bad because it can damage your grades in school. It also can be stealing other peoples work.

The 41-year-old actress, Halle Berry had a baby girl Sunday.  The father is 32-year-old model Gabriel Aubry. They met while shooting a Versace ad in Los Angeles two years ago.

An Australian woman pleaded guilty Thursday to stabbing her boyfriend because he wouldn’t let listen to Bruce Springsteen’s music. The couple was drinking at their rental home the night of the stabbing.

Barack Obama beat Senetor Hillary Clinton by a wide margin in Mississippi’s Democratic primary Tuesday. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Obama had 61 percent of the vote, compared with Clinton’s 37 percent. Obama won a lot of support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton 91-9 percent.The state has a larger proportion of African-Americans than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.

Two bombings in different Iraq section on Monday killed eight U.S. troops. A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in Diyala. Earlier that day, at least five U.S. soldiers on foot patrol were killed and three others wounded in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. This war in Iraq is unnecessary. They are over there killing each other for no reason at all. I think this war should be over.

State legislators passed a law Saturday that would state that adults who French kisses a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender.Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

I really enjoy the guest speak on Friday. I enjoyed how he talk about a serious matter but he also threw in a little bit of humor. I enjoyed all the speakers but the guest speaker was the one who really caught my attention.

I spent my Christmas vacation with my family. My aunt and my cousins came up from north Carolina. I got a lot of things that I wanted for Christmas and I got to spend Christmas day with my best friend. His family wasn’t doing anything so I invited him to spend Christmas with me and my family. Also, during my Christmas vacation I had a basketball tournament. Then on New Years, I basically spent New Years with my friends.

It is important to bring in food for the Thanksgiving food drive because we need to help people who don’t have anything to eat this Thanksgiving season. Most people have family and friends that they hang out with during thanksgiving, but there are also people who are out there starving and they don’t have anything to eat. That’s why it is important to bring in food for food drive because you could be saving someones life.