Friday’s quarterfinal meeting of Germany and Greece in the 2012 Union of European Football Association’s championship tournament was not surprising for many German fans. The Greeks were holding onto some hope of repeating its unexpected 2004 tournament win. But for many fans, the game was more than a soccer quarterfinal.

As social media has expanded by leaps and bounds, it has also engendered the coordination of expanding protest movements around the world. Communications networks have provided the links for horizontal movements to move out of the geographical confines of one city and into the beginnings of a loosely structured global movement.

A march protesting the NATO Summit, beginning with estimates of up to 10,000 people, ended in front of Chicago’s McCormick Place on May 22. Leading the march was a group of veterans from wars spanning the length of the past century hand in hand with Afghans for Peace.

May is going to be a grueling month for Occupy Wall Street protesters around the country. Between May Day protests centering around New York City, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and G-8 protests later in the month, a new hope has arisen for change.

The story of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin is now well known across America. While segregation has been abolished for over half a century, Martin’s case proves that racism is still a relevant issue in modern America.

The world of being a street medic is vastly different from being a state-certified emergency medical technician (EMT). I have found myself providing both scopes of care, and although the injuries may be the same, the jobs themselves are vastly different.

Amidst accusations of corruption and ballot stuffing, Vladimir Putin was re-elected last week as the new president of Russia despite mass protests nationwide. He would have won without the alleged ballot stuffing, yet many Russian citizens are still unhappy with the end result.

While the healthcare debate has been resolved, and all women can now get access to birth control through their employers’ insurance plan, regardless of religious background, a new issue has arisen.

The Chinese government has always been notoriously strict on what journalists can and cannot publish. However, in the past few years, the focus has shifted from control over print media to a tightening grip on Internet journalism, in particular with blogs and microblogs.