World News. (10/24-10/30)
Within the last week in America, we have heard more about the presidential debates than ever, as Election Day draws closer. People are choosing sides if they have not done so already and are getting ready to defend them. Some people on the other hand still have not chosen a candidate to support.
The good news is there are more countries in the world other than America, so if your last ditch plan is to move to a different country, good luck!
In the week of October twenty-fourth to October thirtieth, other than in the Unites States presidential race, there have been many more things that have happened.
Demonstrators marched the streets of Venezuela protesting against the current President Nicolas Maduro. Protesters are asking for a recall, and if they are not heard they are planning to march to the presidential palace. Henrique Capriles, the leader of the demonstrators, said that 147 people were arrested in protests, while 120 more were hurt across the nation. The Vatican are to act as mediators in a talk about peace between both sides. Both sides have been starting to view the other as wanting to start a coup. Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson resigned as a formality. The majority was not won by anyone, but the Independence party received polarity with 29% and 21 of the 63 seats in parliament. The event also showed that the “pirate party,” the Vidreisn, or Reform Party, had gained 10% of the votes, less than what opinion polls had shown but triple of their last election in 2013.
In Europe, Britain’s government just gave permission to expand the Heathrow airport, the exception will raze 783 homes in the area and increase noise and air pollution in the dense London area. The compensation will cost 2.6 billion pounds, about $3.2 billion. The project itself will be delayed because there are people threatening to sue it as it will take away the area they live in. It has also been delayed for years as anti-expansion groups have rallied against it. Tony Blair, the former prime minister has stated his opinion that Great Britain should have a second vote on leaving the European Union. Blair says there may be other opinions than “Brexit”. Italy has been hit by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake, the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared that “We will rebuild everything. We have the resources to do it.”
On Friday the Lithuanian government handed its citizens an interesting handbook called, “What to do if Russia invades.” It covers a lot of information from first aid to pictures of how to identify Russian tanks. With 30,000 printed copies and a file uploaded to the internet, it is easy to find.
In the Central African Republic last week, twenty-five people were killed in clashes. Many of them occurred following an Anti-UN protest. In Mauritania, a pair of brothers testified on a case of child slavery against both their abusers and the Mauritania government. This is the first and only successful prosecution under Mauritania’s 2007 anti-slavery legislation. The abuser, El Hassine, had to pay $4,700 (£3,866) in compensation and two years in prison. Arguing the sentence is too light, the boy’s lawyer took this to African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Even though slavery in Mauritania was abolished in 1981 and it became a crime in 2007, some rights groups claim that at least 800,000 people out of a population of 3.5 million are still slaves and laws are rarely enforced.
Authorities in Turkey have sent out two decrees shutting down 15 media outlets, ten newspapers, two news agencies, and three magazines. There have now been more than 160 media outlets that have closed since the failed military takeover. Also, more than 10,000 civil workers have been fired recently, making the total amount of civil servants fired overall around 100,000. Over 37,000 people were formally arrested, and of them, 99 were journalists.
Iraqi-led fighters are, as of Sunday, attacking a village called Salmani, in an operation to reach Mosul, which is the second largest city in Iraq as well as ISIS’s last major base. This continuing battle to reach Mosul has included missiles and other warfare that have contaminated the water in the areas of battle. At least 38 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed by rebel shelling of government-held parts of Aleppo and at least 250 other people were injured after groups fighting the Syrian regime increased their attack on the western parts of the city that are controlled by the government. Attacks ending a ceasefire began on the 23rd of October after warplanes bombed the city. In Yemen, the ”forgotten war” is still going strong with over 10,000 Yemenis dead, 1 in 5 starving, and no food or medicine available to the people. Yemen has been announced to be on the “brink of starvation,” Airstrikes and bombings from both sides have not reduced. A pair of airstrikes, aimed at the port city of Hodeida, has killed at least 68 people and injured 38 more.
Lastly, in America Patient O, Gaëtan Dugas, who was known as the man who spread HIV and AIDs in America, was finally proven innocent. Thirty years after his death scientists have found that HIV has existed since the early 20th century, most likely by a chimpanzee that infected a single human in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Sources: CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, Independent
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