Earlier today, a 19th century bridge in India collapsed causing those on the bridge to fall into the underneath river leading many to their death. According to the article, there were about 400 people on the bridge, some of who were children. Unfortunately, 78 people have died from either drowning or getting swept away. It us suspected that the bridge collapsed due to overcrowding of Diwali celebrations.
Ana De La Torre
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the Presidency against his rival Jair Bolsonaro. Lula da Silva won by very narrow margins 50.90% bringing many citizens a sense of relief after the high inflation, limited growth, and rising poverty. However the threats of Jair Bolsonaro have also worried citizens after he took after Donald Trump stating that he will not accept his defeat and will fight the results of the election.
Ana De La Torre
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/30/americas/brazil-election-polls-open-intl/index.html
Somalia’s president has said he will press ahead with a major offensive against Islamic extremists despite twin car bombings that killed at least 100 people and injured three times as many at a busy junction in the centre of the capital, Mogadishu.
The toll in Saturday’s attack – the country’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500 – is expected to rise.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/30/car-bombings-kill-at-least-100-in-mogadishu-says-somali-president
Jason Connor
In celebration of Switzerland's 175th anniversary of the country's first railway system, the Swiss rail industry came together to create the world's longest-ever passenger train. This train consists of 100 cars, 2,990 tonnes and is 2 kilometers long. Switzerland's railway system is well known for its beauty and efficiency. There are high hopes for a successful run regarding this project.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/world-record-train-switzerland/index.html
Kenny Siwicki
This week, in Mumbai, India, a suspension bridge collapsed. At least 60 people fell into the Machchu river, where they were killed. According to the NPR source, “hundreds more might be trapped underneath the rubble” (Kumar). While rescue operations are still happening, Modi, the private company in charge of the bridge’s upkeep, has announced monetary compensation to families of those who died in the accident. From an international perspective, I wondered how other actors would have reacted to an event like this occurring in their country—how would their actions differ from those of India?
Libby Gardner
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/30/1132673467/india-bridge-collapse
If enacted, the law would toughen the already existing regulations that criminalize LGBT education when it comes to children. The ban would allow censorship and block LGBT issues on the internet, in advertising and in books, among other things. Human rights activists say the extension means that any act or public mention of same-sex couples would face fines or even expulsion from the country for non-Russians. It is supposed to be part of a "hybrid war" against Western values.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63410127
Reyes Venegas
The Incident took place in the Itaewon neighborhood Saturday night. The cause of these deaths was a fire outbreak. Several reports were received that some of these casualties were 'buried' in crows. However, there has been no evidence of gas leaks or power outages. Dozens of people were injured. these people were transferred to multiple hospitals. Festivities can be a time for communities to bond together. However, incidents like these in crowds are common these days. It is more than essential to stay safe and sound during festivals. The casualties of this incident were really unfortunate.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/asia/south-korea-halloween-cardiac-arrest-intl/index.html
Aryan Shah
Russia is the largest exporter of fossil fuels; with the war more and more countries are starting to shun Russia as an exporter. This isn't good for Russian economy and their economy has fallen to the lowest that it has been recently. The demand for the fossil fuels is predicted to peak in 2025, as the demand keeps going up and up so does the investment and commitment to green energy which is said to rise by 50% by the year 2030. The world has been turning more and more to green energy, the worry is that this crisis and possible shortage makes people worry it could undo what has already been done. Sanctions on Russia's gas and oil is rising which is making threating nations such as Germany and France with a shortage this winter.
Tori Robinson
Russia is testing out its nuclear missiles; an ICBM was launched from the Kura test site to land in the far east of Russia. This is a show of force to create fear in Ukraine. Putin is also trying to show that he is serious about using Nukes to gain an advantage in the war. Russia is trying to make the world believe that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb, and in return, they will have a justifiable reason to nuke them. Russia is trying to shape public opinion and deceive them about what's happening. I honestly think that at this point may use a nuke bomb on their own troops to find a reason to Nuke Ukraine and win the war. The action of testing itself was okay under the start arms treaty.
President Biden has threatened a ban on American involvement in the Nicaraguan gold industry in the most recent attempt to place sanctions on authoritarian leader Daniel Ortega. This comes after many previous sanctions by the US on the country for attacks against human rights and support of Russia. Ortega also recently spoke out against the US when congratulating Xi Jinping on his next term as leader of China. The ban is also likely to increase migration as Nicaraguans continue to leave their homeland in large numbers.
https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-nicaragua-central-america-bd0b7fdfbae0742d70de01d263ba0d9d
Aaliyah McCormick
The story of Brittney Griner has been a large topic of debate since she was arrested in February for attempting to bring illegal narcotics, or hashish oil in the form of a cartridge or vape, with her as she arrived in Russia to play basketball (Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team in the U.S.). While there are some discrepancies about the severity of her punishment, there is one thing that is for certain: there is no escaping the just over eight years left that she has to serve in Russia. Griner made an attempt to lessen that sentence in an appeal that she made a week ago today, which was quickly shut down by the Russian court.
This article also talks about a high-profile prisoner swap being Griner's best chance. However, it would be in poor taste to swap Ms. Griner for a Russian native that goes by the name "Merchant of Death." This man is a known arms dealer "who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to people who said they plan to kill Americans." While no American wants to be imprisoned in Russia, especially a high profile basketball player, one should consider their actions and decisions more carefully when entering a country that harbors somebody like Edward Snowden from the American government.
Rishi Sunak is Britain's new prime minister after Liz Truss' abrupt resignation.
Rishi Sunak Is the Youngest UK Prime Minister of Modern Times - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Over the weekend, Uganda saw nine new Ebola cases in the Kampala metropolitan region as of Sunday, as well as two other positive cases on Friday. This is a troubling increase since the outbreak was declared just over a month ago in the Kampala metropolitan area, a remote part of the country. Since September 20th of 2022, there have been 75 cases of Ebola; this includes 28 deaths and 19 active cases. This is a challenging situation for healthcare workers, as the outbreak is "rapidly evolving," according to a World Health Organization official in Africa.
Ainsley Ratledge
David S. Cloud a reporter from the "Wall Street Journal" wrote an article on October 24 of this year called " Iran Charges Hundreds Accused of Joining Protests." In this article, the reporter talks about how the Iranian authorities have announced charges against thousands of Iranians in connection with the protest that has swept Iran these past weeks. Since the start of the protest, the government has detained an unknown number of people making the prisons overcrowded, and recently 1,700 people have been released from jail. The protest were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who was detained for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. The protest has continued in different cities in Iran and in universities reaching the point of school administrators searching for students who might be connected with the demonstration. Finally, the government is continuing to arrest people and charge them with allegations that go from collaborating with foreign governments to the death penalty.
Sergio Bracco
https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-charges-hundreds-accused-of-joining-protests-11666628820
The Russian military is trying to convince the world that it has readied its forces for the possible use of a dirty bomb by Ukraine, but that claim has been rejected by US and NATO. Russia is trying other ways of deception to advance on Ukraine before winter is here, so it makes sense why they would claim such a thing. I think that Moscow is also trying to find an excuse for using Chemical/ Nuclear weapons on Ukraine so they have to make the world belief that Ukriane is the one who started it.
Rishi Sunak is set to become the next UK prime minister after winning the Conservative leadership race on Monday. He will be the First leader of color. Sunak is left with the huge task of repairing the economy after Liz Truss. The return of Boris would have made things worse for the conservative party, and he didn't have as much support compared to Sunak. The reason why Boris was not welcomed with a lot of support is because of Scandals over money and ethics.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63361816
“At least three people have died after a powerful
hurricane caused heavy rains, flash flooding and landslides in western Mexico.”
There was also flash flooding and immense damage
done to their infrastructure. These storm are going to continue to become more prominent
because of global warming and the increase in powerful storms across the world.
Jessicah Finglass
The article, first talks about how Giorgia Meloni was sworn into office this Saturday and is also Italy's first prime minister. She will make a very hard right government that has not been seen in Italy in a long time. The new governing coalition includes Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi who have similar views as Meloni. In the past, both men have publicly shown approval of Vladimir Putin, which made many people curious about Italy's stance on the war in Ukraine will be. Meloni has said that Italy is a part of the Atlantic Alliance and a part of Europe and will share the same stance as them. But regardless of what the prime minister has said, many still worry about what the right government means for the country.
Connor Davis
https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-10-23-22/index.html
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues to intensify as Russia has attacked essential proponents of Ukraine’s energy grid. The attack is reported to be significant in scale, as areas that spread all across the entire country. It has been estimated that approximately one-third of Ukraine’s energy supplies were destroyed or damaged, and the attack led to over 1.5 million Ukrainian households being without power. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proclaimed that a total of 36 missiles were launched on Saturday, however many were shot down and caused no damage to their targets. Targeting the power and energy resources is part of Russia’s plan, which is to deprive Ukraine of as much power as possible going into the winter to bring the war to front-line areas. One crucial structure that Ukraine is afraid will be attacked is the Kakhovka hydropower plant. This would lead to hundreds of thousands of homes flooding. Russia has continued to deny a future attack on the hydro plant, but only time will tell if this is true or not.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63357393
By Bradyn Almasy
Norway replaced Russia as the source of natural gas for Europe after sanctions were placed after the war began. Workers on the gas platform have heard unidentified drones over their heads, which could mean that Russia is trying to Cut natural gas production from Europe before the winter starts. The Norwegian government has sent warships and fighter jets to patrol to secure the gas platforms. The Problem is that it's extremely hard to secure a 9000 Km pipeline, so it could easily be targeted by Russia. The Prime minister of Norway has asked for help from their NATO allies Britain, France, and Germany to help them address the problem better as it's a very important time to maintain gas production before Winter Begins.
October 23, 2022
Xi Jinping received a third 5 year presidential term over China this week. Even though there are no set term limits for political figures in China, Xi is breaking with the 10 year leadership cycle set by his predecessor who served two terms as the Communist party's chief. In 2018, Xi Jinping scrapped constitutional limits that did set term limits for leaders. Xi Jinping, over his period in power, has moved China into more of an authoritarian state, gradually breaking from the idea of collective power. Instead he has concentrated more of the decision making authority among himself and his top group. The largest issues Xi Jinping made clear China wants to focus on in the future include the expansion of its military and embracing a fighting spirit for China. This could potentially be dangerous to foreign relations with other countries. Xi Jinping is also beginning to move China more towards a command economy in certain aspects as part of increasing his control. I think this will not be good for markets overall.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-xi-claims-third-term-as-communist-party-leader-11666499842
Gabriel Ham
In Iran the deaths of many students are being mourned by family, friends, and teachers. These students participated in protests of "Morality Police" in Iran after they beat a young women for allegedly not covering her hair, This young woman died in their custody which sparked protests. Many students are participating in these protests which have lead to their deaths. "Amnesty International reported last week 23 children had been killed between 20 September and 30 September as a result of “unlawful force” used by security forces against protesters during that time". This has lead to even more protesting and turmoil in Iran. "A teachers’ union in Iran called for a nationwide teacher strike in protest over the recent deaths and detention of students in the country".
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/21/middleeast/iran-teachers-nationwide-strike-students-intl/index.html
Ellie Berns
The war in Ukraine is now being fought in two mostly separate arenas: on the ground in the south and east, where the Ukrainian military has the upper hand, and in the air, where Russia is firing long-range missiles and deploying Iranian-made explosive drones to cripple electrical and heating infrastructure in Ukrainian cities in hopes of demoralizing the population. Consequently, Ukraine is developing anti-drone warfare mechanisms with specialized techniques to combat the Russian army.
‘We Heard It, We Saw It, Then We Opened Fire’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
María Negrillo
Former British PM announced today (Sunday) that he will not be running for office. People expected him to be replacing Liz Truss after she left office last week. Liz Truss did not have a good understanding of how the market works, and her decision to start the tax cut economic package caused a disruption in the financial markets, which caused a backlash. Sunak is most likely to be the next Prime minister of the UK as he has the support of 140 lawmakers. Boris did not have as much support as Sunak, so maybe the reason he backed out was that he eventually knew that he had a small chance of winning, so he preferred not to.
Over 1.4 million Ukrainians lost power after Russian air raids on October 23. Ukrainian General Staff reported that 40 cruise missiles and 16 allegedly Iranian-made drones hit Ukraine. The power outages may last 8-10 hours per day where electricity is still intact. This is causing major problems for the police to effectively warn citizens about airstrikes. In addition, hospitals are running on a backup generator to supply oxygen and fresh water to patients. Energy expert, Oleksandr Kharchenko, explained that there are too many power generation facilities to defend all of them.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/22/1130742768/ukraine-power-grid-outages-record-damage
Crista Salceda
With many parts of the world suffering from political turmoil, this article provided an interesting insight into the upcoming US midterms. Many issues are on this ballot, like a response to this summer’s Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. People like those in this protest are urging voters to support human rights by electing candidates who reflect these ideals. While this is a local perspective, it is important to look at what will happen if things like abortion get banned in the US—will people have to travel to other countries? How will this stretch resources in bordering places, like Mexico and Canada? How will something local, like the midterms, affect the whole world?
Libby Gardner
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/ct-nvs-north-central-womens-reproductive-rally-st-1023-20221022-os6qywjz6vfy7fnkt4xsi2ey64-story.html
BEIJING — Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was led out of the country's Communist Party Congress Saturday in a moment of unexpected drama during an otherwise highly choreographed event.
Hu, 79, was sitting beside President Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People when he was approached by a man in a suit and surgical mask who spoke to him and appeared to pull his right arm.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-communist-party-congress-xi-jinping-hu-jintao-escorted-out-rcna53548
Jason Connor
Shopkeepers and factory workers went on strike in Iran on Saturday. These were nation wide women-led protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while she was in custody for violating Iran's dress code of women. This marks the sixth week of protests and rallies held in her name. Women have been protesting in Iran by "removing their headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces". These human rights protests have led to nation wide crackdowns that human rights activists say have killed at least 122 people. Protests have been taking place in universities across the country as well as in Amini's hometown where her burial spared anger and resentment in the community. In fact, protests have been held all over the world in response to Amino's death and in solidarity with the protests in Iran. The government in Iran has accused the US of using these protests to "gain concessions in talks with aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear arms deal. At a rally in solidarity in Berlin, protesters were calling for democratic governments "to stop negotiating with the criminal state called the Islamic Republic", and Iranian human rights activities called for the explosion of Iran's ambassadors. Even though the Iranian government is saying these protests are coming to an end, it is likely that they will not for some time.
By: Sarah Hein
Cocaine production has always set a reputation for Colombia. Coca plants are considered to be the main ingredient in the production of the illegal drug cocaine. The output of these plants has increased by 43%. President Gustavo Petro has thus called the 'war on drugs a failure. Most of these drugs are distributed across Europe and the United States. The world's largest drug consumers. The production of these drugs creates numerous negative impacts on Colombia's biodiversity. Firstly, it reduces plant biodiversity and contributes to deforestation. An emerging problem in nations involved in drug production is recruiting innocent children for smuggling. The enforcement of the war on drugs is highly questionable. in 2020, President Trump told Colombia to continue aerial spraying. President Petro's predecessor was a huge supporter of the war on drugs as well. Regardless of the efforts the problem still persists in Colombia. It affects the productivity rates of Colombia and other nations to which its drugs travel to.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63339203
-Aryan Shah
To reinforce the fighting in Ukraine, Putin has withdrawn important military equipment and troops from Syria. This may be an example of how the war with Ukraine is weakening the Russian presence elsewhere. Russia has always been one of the important parties in the region supporting the Syrian government. Although it still maintains many military forces, it could be a preview of what is to come. The Russian withdrawal could mean a change in the position of Israel, which is also influenced by the support that Iran is providing to Putin.
Reyes Venegas
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/world/middleeast/russia-syria-israel-ukraine.html
As attacks are becoming more of a common occurrence in Ukraine, there is a desperate plea that is being made by Ukrainians to Israel for "air defense weapons." However, Israel is adamant on keeping their hands clean of the mess that is the Russia and Ukraine conflict as they are "on the side of the West," according to Israel's defense minister Benny Gantz.
As we have learned in class, Israel seems like they are in the right here - however, "[t]he US believes [...] drones - or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) - were transferred from Iran to Russia," which is a direct violation of a part of the Iran nuclear deal (specifically bans the transfer of "certain military technologies"). This bit of information is a game changer - if Iran is making an effort to back Russia and their military efforts to annex Ukraine, this will call on the United Nations, most importantly the US to step up. Will Israel take a seat at the table? Will the United States make a motion to put an end to Russian violence? Or will Russia fail to carry out their mission completely due to multiple men defecting in regards to their calls to action? These questions are important ones to pay attention to as this conflict continues to escalate.
Source: Israel's Balancing Act Over Ukraine Grows Trickier After Drone Strikes
Elnaz Rekabi who is from Iran was competing at a rock-climbing tournament but was lacking part of the necessary uniform, her hijab. She was said to be wearing a headband with her hair in a ponytail. There was a huge outburst when she did not return back to Iran after competing in public without her hijab on. Since there has been recent displays of what the morality police and anyone else in charge can do when women aren't wearing their hijab properly everyone was scared for her. After her competition on Sunday, she didn't return home until Wednesday morning. After she returned, she was talking to press and said that it wasn't her plan to compete without her hijab, she didn't know that she would be competing at that time and simply wasn't prepared. Her brother gave an interview Tuesday morning and said “My sister is a child of Iran, and she will always play wearing the national team’s uniform. Elnaz belongs to this land, and she will always play for this country,” No one knows what will happen in the next few days or if she will have any repercussions or have any trouble at all.
Elnaz Rekabi: Iranian rock climber arrives back in Tehran after competing without hijab | CNN
Tori Robinson
The morning of Thursday October 20, Liz Truss resigned as the British prime minister after weeks of controversy surrounding her economic plan. She claims that she is unable to deliver on the promises she made when she was aiming to become prime minister and has lost the faith of the conservative party that elected her. She plans to remain acting as prime minister until a replacement has been chosen.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9213263/liz-truss-resigns-uk/
Ainsley Ratledge
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/14/1128858953/animal-populations-are-shrinking-drastically
“Global animal
populations are declining, and we've got limited time to try to fix it.”
“Climate change may become the leading cause of biodiversity
loss”
Because of this
ongoing tragedy, it’s important that we as humans try to take steps toward a climate change strategy and put new laws into place to help minimize the
damages we have already caused.
Jessicah Finglass
Dasl Yoon a reporter from the "Wall Street Journal" wrote an article on October 18 of this year called "While Kim Jong Un Shows World 'Fire and Fury,' He Projects Different Message at Home." In this article, the reporter talks about how Kim Jong Un focuses more on the food struggle in the propaganda instead of weapon launches. In the past years, the state media published almost every launched missile in the country but now the government is giving more priority to food insecurities which started getting worse with Covid-19 and the pandemic. Kim knows that he has to give more importance to the food shortage because he knows the regime leader would lose the trust of the people. Further, 70% of the people would suffer from shortages and people will suffer from it. Before the pandemic, the situation was way more different because the North Koreans could buy corn cheaper, but now it increased making it more difficult for the people to afford it. With this problem, Kim has tried to gain sympathy from his people and acknowledge economic missteps that lead to the shortage of food and he is trying to alleviate the problems this past year. However, the regime is dedicating much of its budget to military advances instead of incrementing the budget to solve the food shortage. Finally, Kim will continue to emphasize self-reliance as a way to solve the food shortage, but he will not give away his weapons for food aid.
Sergio Bracco
Researchers from the UK have recently decided to join the international efforts to discover what the universe looked like milliseconds before it came to existence. Six UK Universities are set to comprise teams and materials in order to contribute to the effort. The observatory telescopes will attempt to scan all corners of the universe likewise to other nations attempts at uncovering the mystery of our existence. Leaders of the charge seem to have high hopes for this mission and are exited to begin their expedition.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/17/uk-joins-international-effort-to-uncover-first-moments-of-the-universe
Kenny Siwicki
With many news outlets posting solely about global powers like Russia and China, I was surprised to see that there was a climate catastrophe happening in Nigeria. NPR has reported that “The Nigerian Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Sadiya Umar Farouq said that as of Sunday 603 people died, 2,407 people have been injured and 1.3 million people have been displaced.” It is important to look at dangerous weather-related events like this, as well as how other countries and world powers react, especially because this is a direct correlation to climate change. Events like these will only be exacerbated if we continue to ignore global warming, and catastrophes like this one should be getting more attention. As for how the world powers and other actors reacted, NPR reported that “Farouq urged leaders in southern states lining the coast to evacuate people living along water channels and other areas that may block water flow,” but that many states simply did not reply, resulting in even worse devastation. This should be a wake-up-call, not just for the climate crisis, but also for the importance of world powers supporting each other and other states.
Libby Gardner
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/17/1129399669/nigeria-floods-death-toll
