Photo: Vox
By: Inez Jaime An Algerian court on Wednesday had sentenced over 20 protestors to several months in jail time for threatening national unity by waving a flag representing the country’s Berber minority as an anti-government demonstration. This story made international headlines and had shined a spotlight on something most of the world had largely forgotten: the peaceful protests that had begun in Algeria nearly nine months ago that are still happening. Since the 22nd of February, Algerians have been in the streets protesting for the big structural changes to their government. They had initially took their demands to the streets and demanded the resignation of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. As Vox’s reporter Alex Ward had explained, the 82 year old former president had led Algeria since 1999. He suffered a stroke in 2013 that left him paralyzed and mute. Despite his poor health, he had remained in power, even if in name only, because Algeria’ military, businesses, and political elites wanted to keep their privileged positions. Ward continued on, saying that those same elites announced earlier this year that Bouteflika would run for a fifth term. Since February, more than 1 million Algerians took to the streets to call for his ousting. This was a development that shocked the loyalists. After initially making smaller concessions, including that he would cancel this year’s elections, he finally caved in to the people’s will and chose to resign. After his resignation, Bouteflika’s associates faced a steady stream of corruption charges as the government attempts to regain people’s trust. Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaïd Slay turned on his former president and aligned himself with the initial protester assertions that Bouteflika was no longer suited to rule. This has allowed him to hold a significant amount of sway in the interim government, which was officially presided over by former interior minister Noureddine Bedoui and Senate leader Abdelkader Bensalah. Salah had called two elections. There was one on July 4, which had been canceled, and another for December 12, which maintained that the army has no political ambitions. But Rochdi Alloui, an expert on North Africa, had stated that the elections are unlikely to put an end to the demonstrations unless a large portion of the country actually comes out to vote.
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Photo: Reuters By: Brianna Quinonez Two years ago, from November 14-21, in 2017, military tanks and soldiers dressed in uniform marched to the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. Their intention: to oust President Robert Mugabe out of power. According to BBC, Robert Mugabe was arrested when he was about 40 years old after criticizing the government of Rhodesia, which is a part of modern-day Zimbabwe. While serving his prison sentence, he was not only a founding member, but was elected President of an organization called the Zimbabwe African National Union, or ZANU, for short. After being released from prison, Mugabe helped convert the unorganized state into a republic and won its first republic election in 1980. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of Zimbabwe but, apparently, that did not have any value, as he was kicked out of office. Mugabe was succeeded by Emerson Mnangagwa. With a new president in office, new policies and problems were under way. One of the major issues that have been met with protests and criticism recently is dealing with inflation and the economic crisis. According to the Guardian, inflation had soared to 175% in the beginning of the year and now rests at 300%, which is the highest in the world. Even necessities such as food and medicine have grown to be scarce items. Fuel, which is a necessary energy source, has quadrupled in price since the beginning of 2019. Obert Masaraure, who is a leader of an organization that represents and speaks on behalf of rural teachers, has stated that the average monthly salary is about $31 USD. It is often stated that with the average family consisting of 4 members, the monthly salary is barely enough to provide basic ingredients like flour and cooking oil. This has often led to families with an increase in hunger until the next paycheck comes around. If man-made problems weren’t enough, Zimbabwe is also dealing with a drought. According to Aljazeera, a severe drought has not only led to unsuccessful fields of maize, but power outages as well. Zimbabwe is not in its strongest state right now, but the current president will hopefully do his best to turn things around for not only the country, but for its people. Photo: AP News By: Saira Canales The sea level in Venice raised 6.14 feet above average this past Tuesday. It was still lower than the 1966 flood, but the following Wednesday it exceeded. Only one death was reported because of the flooding. It was a man in his 70s who was electrocuted when he tried to start a pump in his dwelling to try to get rid of some water. This is a city of 3,500 inhabitants, but not it’s not just them who are in danger. Many historical monuments and sights are currently in contact with the water. St. Mark's Basilica, for example, is one of the many sights that have sustained serious damage. This is the second time in history that Italy has endured a flood as serious this. The amount of money that it would take to cover for all damages is baffling. Not only would the artwork need to be covered, but also the people and their homes and jobs. People would believe that the most probable cause would be due to climate change. The water is rising, so the islands are sinking. The canals that were built are also going under, so the city itself is trying to find a way to help stop this. There has been talk about incorporating movable undersea barriers. This should help limit future flooding. There’s currently no launch date in sight for this project because environmental scientists say it may damage the already fragile ecosystem. People are taking this as a sober awakening to what climate change is doing and how it affects surroundings islands. Not only would the residents and history would be washed away, but the rich culture that is still there today as well. We don’t know for how much longer it will be. “The threat is if Venice becomes uninhabitable by normal human beings. One of the great things about Venice is that real people live there and go about their daily business,” Oppenheimer told Washington Post on Saturday. It’s hard to find the money to help with these damages when the resident numbers are decreasing because of high tides and the expenses are going up as well. Photo: CNN By: Inez Jaime The Australian Aboriginal site, Wollumbin Mount, is at risk of being closed down. The world-famous aboriginal site is now closed to climbing tourists, and other destinations in Australia have been considering similar tourist-reducing measures. Wollumbin Mount, also known by its English name Mount Warning, is a popular visitor spot in New South Wales, Australia. It is about 160 kilometers and 102 miles south of Brisbane. It is within the UNESCO World Heritage list. The Bundjalun was among the Aboriginal people who had comprised about two percent of the Australia population is among the traditional guardians. Like what the Anangu in the Northern Territory did for Uluru, the Bundjalung wanted to restrict access to the Wollumbin, which is a sacred site to them. It has been stated by a CNN representative that it is equivalent to climbing on top of the Vatican or a Muslim mosque. According to tourism data, some of 100,000 people climb Wollumbin each year. Through the Parks of Australia, which oversees the county’s national parks, the parks officials have put up signs asking tourists to be respectful of the site and to reconsider their decision to climb. Unfortunately, many ignore the warning and want to continue to climb the site. A Wollumbin National Parks official had stated that “visitors are asked to respect the wishes of Bundajalung Elders and avoid climbing this very hard track”. But for the Bundajalung, asking politely wasn’t enough. They say that an outright ban supported by the government would keep the space sacred. If even a fraction of visitors decide to climb, the number would still be significant. For example, 300,000 people have visited Uluru in 2015, and about 16% opted to climb the rock. That is around 48,000 people. This does not factor in the other issues such as littering and erosion. Adding up to the moral issues raised by potential climbers, Wollumbin is also a safety concern. Hiking on this mountain had been considered to be very challenging and can be very hard, under the best conditions. For example in 2017, 15 hikers had to be rescued. Some even had to be saved by helicopter evacuation. It also had been stated in Queensland that the government worked in partnership with the traditional owners. Photo: NPR By: Saira Canales In 1944, 13-year-old Segre Segre from Milan, Italy, was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp with the number 75190 tattooed on her arm. She said the tortures she endured was so severe that she didn’t want to talk about it much after the war. But she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to talk about it. She also mentioned that many people in the country itself didn’t want to speak about it so that they could just forget it ever happened. She just never spoke of it until she became a grandmother at the age of 60. That’s when she realized she had to inform the younger generations that are leading after her what truly happened and that it’s not just a scary story that was told. She began her activism quickly after her “awakening.” She began going to schools and telling them how the concentration camps looked like and what tended to take place. As she did this, she took note that there was still racism. Though this may seem like an odd statement to us, she said it is not talked about enough but more just put aside, swept under the rug. “Just how they did when the war was going on,” BBC News reports. She goes on to talk about how racism does affect people today, even if it doesn’t seem as “harmful” as it was back then. Because of this, she tried to help get the Commission Against Hatred passed, assuming that this would be okay with everyone because it benefits everyone, not the parties that ended up vetoing it. After the Commission Against Hatred didn’t pass, Segre began to get many death threats against her. She received about 200 messages a day. She is being protected by police and is appointed a personal bodyguard just to take caution. Even though not much has been done, she is known as a “senator for life”. For all the things she went through but still refused to speak out even after all of this time, she has shown great courage and the willingness to put her country first. BBC News asked her how this made her feel. This is what she had to say: “Inside, I was always that little child suddenly banned from going to school and who became invisible to the world around her," said Segre. "Eighty years later, she becomes senator for life — I can't find words to describe my emotion." Photo: Mexico News Daily By: Brianna Quinonez It is no shock that every time a new artifact is discovered the entire archaeological world cannot seem to contain its excitement. This statement is a complete understatement when new bones are encountered that can give modern day archaeologists a chance to analyze and display to the world who, or what, prowled the Earth thousands of years ago. According to the Guardian, archaeologists in Tultepec, Mexico found 824 bones, were derived from about 14 mammoths. The bones were found in two separate pits that had the equal depth of about 6 feet. It is believed that the hunters from this time period scared the mammoths into falling into the pits by approaching them with fire. With animals that are naturally afraid of this natural source of light, it wasn’t hard to trap them. According to the TedBlog, mammoths, to put their size into perspective, were at the height of 9 to 11 feet tall and weighed about 6 tons, or about 12,000 pounds. Not only was the average height of a hunter-gatherer from this time about 5 feet, it can be widely agreed that their mass was completely no match for humans. However, the complexity of the human brain has the capacity to comprehend the consequences of all their actions and could plan an attack on almost any animal so that they could use its resources to improve their state of life. According to BBC, it was widely believed and agreed upon that hunter-gatherers from this time period only were able to capture these huge animals if they were injured or naturally trapped. But it is obvious that, with these newly found bones, these were definitely planned and their behaviors were monitored and understood before making the decision to attack. Nonetheless, these new bones are now under analysis and have given archeologists a new perspective of how humans thought and planned their lives out. The city of Tultepec in Mexico is now the origin of not only rare mammoth bones but to a new field of questions that archaeologists won't stop asking until they are answered. Photo: Reuters By: Inez Jaime The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has planned to shift funds designated to civilian purposes to military spending to meet any threats from Iran. Netanyahu had said in a speech on Monday that they did not specify the amount of funds being transferred, but they needed to be moved immediately. When asked about the prime minister’s remarks, the official made clear that no such shift was imminent. The official had stated that until the 2020 budget passes, no changes will be made until notice. The official also stated that future budgets will have to take the moving of funds into account. It was also still unclear whether Netanyahu or his political rival Benny Gantz will form a new government, or if a new ballot will be needed after inconclusive elections in April and last month. Limited in power, Netanyahu’s caretaker government has been unable to rein in a budget hole. They have delayed a parliamentary vote of approval on next year’s budget to 2020. Netanyahu, who is head of the right-wing Likud party, has cited growing security considerations, urging Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White Party, to join a broad coalition. Israel’s president asked Gantz last week to try to put the government together after Netanyahu had failed. In his speech, Netanyahu had accused Iran of seeking the means to turn Yemen into a staging ground for launching precision-guided missiles at Israel. He stated that, “To be a strong military, we have to shift now money from the civilian areas to the military areas.” Israel’s economy has been in a holding pattern amid the political uncertainty for quite a few months, and that analysts believe the next government will need to trim spending to stick to fiscal targets, but mainly taxes will rise. It had been stated by the Capital Market Chief Economist Jonathan Katz that when it comes to civilian spending, to a very large extent, Netanyahu’s hands are tied. He also stated that it sounded like a great slogan, but what’s more realistic in interpreting his statement is that defense spending will have to grow more rapidly than a civilian. He said that about 80% of Civilian spending is public sector salaries and those will not be touched. Instead, infrastructure projects might be delayed while after-school care for toddlers may be suspended, along with raising taxes. Cutting civilian spending could also harm growth, since at 30% of economic output, Israel is second to last in such expenditures out of the OECD countries. The Bank of Israel had stated in a report that with civilian spending being so low, it is difficult for the government to allocate resources to policy measures that will give long-term economic growth. Photo: BBC News By: Saira Canales Fair skin tends to be a sign of beauty and superiority in India. Women with a lighter skin tone are often seen as “prettier” than women with a darker skin tone. This has been going on in India for a very long time. Recently, there was a case where their father spoke out against this because his daughter committed suicide, blaming it on the color of her skin tone. The father blamed the husband for this because he would constantly tease her on the color of her skin and say she was ugly. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened either. “29-year-old woman killed herself in 2014 after her husband taunted her over her skin colour,” police reported. BBC News reporters interviewed the 2014 suicide victim’s sister. She said, "Virendra used to taunt Pooja on her skin colour, saying 'You are black, so you will have to bring from money from your parents.’” A note could not be found. The most tragic of these stories is a 14-year-old girl who attempted to take her own life by setting herself on fire. She did this because she was teased for her color of her skin. She tried to kill herself once before because of the taunting her classmates were doing to her, but when she approached her principal about what she was doing to herself, instead of the principal taking action, she just called her “mental” and “stupid”. She was not taken seriously until she took her own life. Even then, the case is just being looked over and still hasn’t been taken to trial. The idea of fairer skin being beautiful is an unfortunately real circumstance that is portrayed in India. Photo: Catholic News Agency
By: Brianna Quinonez A New Feast Day has been put in place to the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Loreto. “Our Lady” is an honorable way of referring to the Virgin Mary, also known as the Mother of God. According to Catholic News Agency, this is an “optional memorial” that will be celebrated on December 10, which is two days before another Feast Day for Mary, the Feast Day Of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the Catholic Church, the Virgin Mary is recognized as the Mother of God. Although many misconstrue the fact that Catholics “worship” her, they actually venerate and pray to her for guidance. She is recognized as the woman who undertook the risk of being persecuted for carrying baby Jesus, since in that time women who were pregnant out of wedlock were considered a disgrace. The analogy often used is that, like a Mother, the Virgin Mary cares for us, intercedes for us, and guides us as if we were her own children. It is often said that children should honor their parents. Catholics, in this manner, worship God and since it is believed that Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior of the world, is the son of the Virgin Mary, Catholics, therefore, honor Mary. The Virgin Mary is honored throughout the Liturgical Calendar with several Feast Days attributed to her, the month of May to distinguish her, and a Holy Day of Obligation called the Immaculate Conception. Only two humans were born without Original Sin: the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. Mary was born without Original Sin, which Catholics testify is inherited to all beings following the Fall of Adam and Eve, so that she could bear God’s Son, Jesus. According to CatholicSaints.info, this new Feast Day gives honor to the house where the Virgin Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel and where the Holy Family lived in Nazareth. The Holy House Of Loreto now resides in a basilica in Loreto, Italy. It is believed that the House was transported to Italy from Jerusalem by the Angels Of God. |
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