Total word count: 787
Topic 1
Excerpts from the Buddhist "The Four Great Truths"
The First truth (The Noble Truth of Suffering): "Whoso delights in bodily form, or feeling, or perception, or mental formations, or consciousness, he delights in suffering; and whoso delights in suffering will not be freed from suffering. This I say." [1]
The First truth interpretation: I believe that the first truth is saying that pain and suffering are inevitable. In other words, life is full of sorrow and dissatisfaction.
The Second truth (The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering): "Thus, whatever kind of Feeling one experiences.-pleasant, unpleasant or indifferent-one approves of and cherishes the feeling and clings to it; and while doing so, lust springs up; but lust for feelings means clinging to existence; and on clinging to existence depends the Process of Becoming; on the process of becoming depends Birth; and dependent-on birth are Decay and Death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Thus arises this whole mass of suffering." [1] 
The Second truth interpretation: I believe that the second truth is saying that desire and existence are the origins of suffering, leading to pain and suffering.
The Third truth (the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering): "Hence, the annihilation, cessation and overcoming of bodily form, feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness, this is the extinction of suffering, the end of disease, the overcoming of old age and death." [1]
The Third truth interpretation: I believe that the third truth is saying that you must become free of desire in order to end pain and suffering.
The Fourth truth (The Noble Truth of the Path that Leads to Extinction of Suffering): "To give oneself up to indulence is Sensual Pleasure, give oneself up to Self-mortification, the painful, unholy, unprofitable; both these two extremes the Perfect One has avoided and found out the Middle Path which makes one both to see and to know, which leads to peace, to discernment, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. "It is the Noble eight-fold Path, the way that leads to the extinction of suffering."[1]
The Fourth truth interpretation: I believe that the fourth truth is saying that there is way for suffering to become extinct through the Noble Eightfold Path.
Personal Experience: Up until I was in middle school, I wanted to become a teacher. I discovered that I really enjoyed helping others learn. However, I knew that the salary they earned would not be enough to sustain me and my future family. I imagined my family living in a life of pain and suffering. Therefore, I had to crush this desire. I decided to go into engineering here at Penn State because I can still apply my strong science and mathematics knowledge. In addition, engineers make a nice salary. I am still considering about teaching after working for a while in industry, living comfortably. I find that this personal anecdote resembles the Four Noble Truths.
Topic 2
The  news article that I selected is related to science and medicine in India. The title of the article is "Coronavirus: Foreigners who went to China after Jan 15 not allowed to enter India, says DGCA". The source of the article is India Today and it was published by the Press Trust of India in February 8, 2020. 
In summary, the article states that the aviation regulator, DGCA, will not allow foreigners who went to China on or after January 15 to enter India. This is because the outbreak of the Coronavirus has killed over 700 Chinese natives [2].
I believe that this is a fair call to action. If I was the leader of my country, I would not want a deathly disease to spread throughout my nation and kill numerous civilians. Up until the article was published, three Indians tested positive for Coronavirus. We do not want to see this number skyrocket.
Classical India has had a number of noteworthy scientific accomplishments. They created principles that aided European science. Indian scientists developed an atomic theory of elements which transitioned into modern physics. In medicine, traditional India scientists developed an intricate pharmacopoeia containing a various drugs and herbal remedies. [3, Chapter 4, pg. 80]. Some antiviral medications can treat viruses, so maybe modern Indian scientists can implement the ideas of traditional India scientists and pharmacists to treat the Caronavirus. 
References
[1] Kerr, Stuart R. Selected Quotations from Buddhism, The Urantia Book Fellowship, urantia-book.org/archive/readers/buddhism.htm#four.
[2] Bansal, Kritika. “Coronavirus: Foreigners Who Went to China after Jan 15 Not Allowed to Enter India, Says DGCA.” India Today, Press Trust of Delhi, 8 Feb. 2020, www.indiatoday.in/india/story/coronavirus-foreigners-who-went-to-china-after-jan-15-not-allowed-to-enter-india-says-dgca-1644628-2020-02-09
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[3] Murphey, Rhoads. A History of Asia, Routledge, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=4692232.