From Aug. 9 to Aug. 13, junior Gabriella Studt competed alongside seven other American girls who represented the U.S. at the China Girls Math Olympiad (CGMO) in Guangzhou, China. The U.S. team consisted of Cynthia Day, Courtney Guo, Laura Pierson, Studt, Danielle Wang, Alicia Weng, Victoria Xia and Jingyi Zhao.
Senior Samuel Zbarsky and 11 other North American students went to the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to compete with over 30 teams from 26 countries around the world. The American and Canadian teams competed in both the individual and team events and did some sightseeing around the city.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales of the U.S. Army allegedly killed 17 civilians in a shooting rampage near his military post in southern Afghanistan. As of March 22, the charges against Bales include 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with dereliction of duty and other breaches of army law.
Four of the suspected conspirators involved in the Megaupload.com charges were arrested in New Zealand. A cruise ship, The Concordia, crashed into a reef on the small Tuscan island, Giglio. The European Union will ban the import of Iranian crude oil and prohibit forms of trade. Standard & Poor downgraded European governments and stripped the bailout fund of its AAA status.
The month's biggest international stories: the bombings in Damascus, the violent aftermath of the Congo elections, Kim Jong Il's death and the Brazilian oil spill.