This blog publishes blog post by students at North Central College
On September 17th it was reported that activism group, Last Generation, sprayed orange paint on all 6 columns of the Brandenburg Gate in Germany. The group's intentions were to initiate the German government to take action against worsening climate conditions, with the main goal to make Germany fossil fuel free by 2030. Consequently, 14 members have been detained for the vandalism.
By Maddie Dames
Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer was murdered by an unknown suspect this past weekend for "being in uniform". Clinkunbroomer was on patrol when a car came along side him and shot and killed him. Nobody knows why the suspect did what they did but they believe it was because Clinkunbroomer was on duty in his uniform. There has been no evidence found on who did this murder and why they did it.
By: Simon Krugliakovas
In the state of California, there was a lawsuit over Google's unlawful use of tracking data against its users. Google claims that this was old technology, and that current users have nothing to worry about. Along with the $93 million that Google owes to those effected in California, they must also be more transparent about how tracking and locating data is used going forward.
Google reaches $93 million settlement in tracking location case | CNN Business
By Andrew Elleson
Top U.S and Chinese diplomats, including White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's foreign minister Wang Yi, gathered in Malta over the weekend to address strained relations between the two nations and pave the way for a meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November. The discussions were described as "candid, substantive and constructive." The different topics included the US-China relationship, global and regional security, Russia's war in Ukraine and the Taiwan strait situation.
Both nations agreed to continue high-level exchanges and bilateral talks concerning the Asia-Pacific region, maritime issues and foreign policy. This was the first engagement between Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi since a U.S fighter jet drowned a Chinese balloon, which the U.S viewed as a significant breach of international norms. The incident led to a canceled Beijing visit bu U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and heightened tensions around U.S support for Taiwan, intellectual property disputes, and China's advancement in hypersonic missiles technology. The uncertainty surrounded the potential meeting of Biden and Xi Jinping in November at the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation gathering in San Francisco. China's leading security agency emphasized that any leader-level meeting would require genuine sincerity from the U.S.
On Friday, the E.U.'s ban on Ukrainian grain imports for five neighbors of Ukraine expired. Three of those neighbors, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, decided to keep those restrictions in place. This choice serves as a dent in the relatively united support for Ukraine across Europe.
The counties that decided to keep the restrictions in place cited the need to protect their own farmers. They reason that the flood of Ukrainian grain into their countries will drive the price of grain down, hurting their farmers as a result. Thus, leaders of these countries claim they are not against Ukraine, rather, they are against hurting their own state.
Ukraine has not directly addressed the choice of its neighbors to ban its grain, however, President Volodymyr Zelensky commented that European Unity works only when neighbors work together, implying that if Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia truly support Ukraine, then they should allow the importation of its grain.
By: Frank Kwak:
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/16/world/europe/ukraine-grain-ban-poland-hungary-slovakia.html
Dominican Republic to seal Dajabon border with Haiti in canal dispute
Fernando Abans
The natural resources conflict is one of the most
basic ones, but at the same time, one of the most common ones. We have the case
here of how treaties and international agreements can be easily ignored by a
government, event if that means going and acting against international law. The
problem in this case is not only the Haitian government trying to control all
by itself the Massacre River. The answer from the Dominican Republic government
has not only been fast but also direct. They will not allow any Haitian citizen
to cross the border to Dominican republic, and even though this might seem a
problem for both countries, the consequences for Haiti are bigger as they need
constant humanitarian help and cooperation since the earthquakes of 2010 and
2021, being most of it sent via Dominican Republic because of the insecurity
and terrorist groups that are in charge all over the Haitian part of the
island.
Armenia will hold exercises with the US in a period of tensions with Russia
Fernando Abans
The war in Nagorno-Karabakh reactivated a conflict that had been on and off for many years. The problem was how the alliances were working because Russian support to the Armenian government was more of a mediator than the one supposed from an ally. The problem for Russia was clear: supporting Armenia meant going against Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey. For that reason, the only way to avoid a conflict with Turkey, an important country in the current invasion of Ukraine, was to be more in the middle of the conflict and not siding for Armenia in a conflicted way. This created a crisis within not only the Armenian government, but also within Armenian society who started taking places far from their Russian neighbour. This has ended even with a support to the Ukrainian cause and a closer relationship with the United States, which has ended up with these exercises taking place in Armenian territory.
https://apnews.com/article/armenia-us-russia-exercises-f0dd278bb3b1453beca1707d40ca8d10
Anthony Cristiano
Violence struck Sudan in the middle of April. There has been rising conflicts between the Sudan army and rapid support forces, these forces were deployed around the country which made the country believe they were a serious threat. As millions have tried to flee the country, there has also been over 8,000 fatalities. The RSF is looking to take over the cities and government along with trying to end all military action within the region. RSF has launched airstrikes into the city and has taken out a huge oil headquarters. As the city is slowly burning to the ground it's leaving many citizens to start a new life.
"Two cargo ships have arrived at a Ukrainian port after travelling through the Black Sea using a new route, Ukrainian port authorities said."
Breaking news, new ships arrive in Ukraine on Saturday carrying more than 20,000 of wheat.
Authorities say that this was the first-time ships have arrived since the collapsed deal with the Russian deal. The wheat has it delivered by vessels in Egypt and Israel. Alongside with Moscow some are restricted to export food in their country. Which is bad because regular export ships are potential targets for Russia.
As Ukraine is one of the largest suppliers of crops with sunflower oil, maize and wheat. It's important to have the safety of the ships delivered safety. In 2022 the navy blocked off the seaports and more than 20 millions of wheat was trapped at sea. This also caused problems of shortages in other parts of the world. Countries such as Yamen, Sudan, Ethiopia were infected greatly by this impact. As Russia has been the main suspect of stealing supplies which doesn’t make the case any easier.
First grain ships arrive in Ukraine using new route - BBC News
-Brianna Herrera
Grace Cavazos
An Austrian couple on their honeymoon in Greece die after the house the vacation house they were staying in is swept away in floodwaters. The floods, which were prompted by Storm Daniel, have killed 15 people and displaced many many more.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66833970
The European Union has announced that it will investigate subsidies given to Chinese automakers by the government in Beijing. EU Officials have cited these alleged subsidies as catalysts in creating an unfair market, as they have allowed Chinese companies to lower their prices through means unavailable to European firms.
Most Europeans view the electric car industry as vital for the creation of revenue and new jobs in Europe. Such surplus cannot exist without European companies, and Chinese subsidies have threatened the very existence of these firms by enabling Chinese companies to price their electric vehicles unreasonably low. Normally, setting prices too low is extremely unprofitable. However, Chinese firms have been able to do so because the subsidies they receive from China exceed the losses they would have incurred. Moreover, these low prices have lured customers away from European manufacturers, putting the latter at risk of going out of business. Since these subsidies are not reciprocated, EU officials contend that they have created an unfair market in Europe, which forms the basis of their investigation. During a time of increased tensions between the West and China, it is likely that this investigation will lead to trade restrictions against China.
By: Frank Kwak
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/business/eu-china-electric-vehicles.html
Hungary’s Orbán calls for less climate panic, more babies – POLITICO
Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has
accused other European politicians of fomenting fear about the threat posed by
climate change while neglecting the issue of declining birth rates. Hungary is
one of many nations in Central and Eastern Europe seeking to reverse declining
birth rates, which poses difficult funding issues for the welfare state as the
population ages and the proportion of people in working age declines. The
Hungarian leader intensified these policies on Thursday by declaring that the
government would reduce the requirement for women to qualify for a lifelong
exemption from paying taxes from four to three children.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who attended
the Budapest Demographic Summit, praised Hungary’s efforts to encourage
families to have more children and warned that demographic change is an
existential risk for her country. It must be taken into account that Hungary’s
populist right-wing government, social conservatism, and a biased media
landscape are making it increasingly difficult for the country’s climate
activists to get their message across. Orbán has made it clear that he isn’t concerned
about climate change, and he has blamed EU climate policies for soaring gas
prices.
Even though birth rates are decreasing all over Europe and this issue has become a huge problem in my continent, there is no need to deny the existence of climate change and the negative consequences that we will all face if there are no better and more ambitious measures implemented soon. Nevertheless, it is true that nowadays, women are not really interested in becoming mothers at an early age or even having more than 1 or 2 children at most.
Written by: Victoria Fernández Vázquez.
Link: ukraine-russia-live-kyiv-says-it-captured-eastern-village-of-andriivka
Zelenskyy is coming to the US as the UN is going to be opening up its meetings. He is also expected to meet with President Biden and Congress. These meetings come as Congress debates on Biden's new aid package for Ukraine. He will be meeting with Biden on Thursday. It will be interesting what will come of these meetings, and what exactly comes of these meetings. Zelenskyy, is really picky about his meetings outside of Ukraine.
By: Karen McClain
During a Congress session in Mexico, journalist José Jaime Maussan, presented two boxes that contained supposed mummies which were found in Peru. He called them "non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution." He claimed that the DNA showed that they are not human beings and they were dated back to 2017 where they were found deep in the Peruvian coastal desert of Nazca. When Maussan made these claims in 2017, the country's prosecutor's office reported that the bodies were “recently manufactured dolls, which have been covered with a mixture of paper and synthetic glue to simulate the presence of skin.” At this time, the bodies were not publicly unveiled so it is unclear whether or not these are the same bodies presented in 2023. Many researchers have shared their skepticism one being Julieta Fierro, who claimed that many details about these bodies "made no sense".
Scientists Call Fraud on Supposed Extraterrestrials Presented to Mexican Congress
By: Yazmin Santillan
It's curious the way that
information can be used to influence audience opinion and understanding. While driving to campus today, I listened to a few different radio stations. WFMT-FM
98.7, WBBM-AM 720 as well as one my mother had introduced me to WCPT-AM 820.
WCPT’s commentator said something which caught my interest. So, with some
minimal research (Bing search engine query) I’m crafting this blog post. Elon
Musk, former chairman of Tesla, Inc., owner (and former CEO) of X Corp. (formerly
known as Twitter) and, more relevantly chairman, CEO and CTO
SpaceX. According to WCPT's host Musk ordered a portion of the Starlink
communications network disabled over Ukraine.
This was curious to me because of the timeliness of this reporting. The Ars Technica article which I'm primarily drawing from indicates a date of 9/9/2023 [updated thereupon] as well as 9/12/2023. Additionally, there's an entry indicating January 2023. Whatever the case may be the onus of the WCPT reporting had been that the shutdown of Starlink services had tactical ramifications for a Ukrainian naval exploit. It appears that similarly to PMC Wagner, Starlink is a mercenary operation when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Grenee 09.14.2023 16:44Hrs
North Korea launched a missile for military practice. It was found by South Korea and Japan in efforts to strengthen their military surveillance. They found the missile the missile landed in the East Sea
Bodies wash ashore in Libya as devastated city races to count its dead after floods (msn.com)
Bodies continuously are washing on the coast of Libya after floods. This tragedy will have major effects on Libya for years to come. They still do not know what the final death tolls will be, but the horrific event will affect the citizens for years.
- Julia Granquist
Science behind the Fukushima Daiichi radioactive water release : Short Wave : NPR
"Fukushima Daiichi," "Chernobyl" (which happens to be in Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic) and "Three Mile Island" (Londonberry Township, Pennsylvania) all have one thing in common: "nuclear reactor accidents." Sorry to be all doom and gloomy on such a nice autumn afternoon too. However now is as inauspicious as any other time.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has started the planned release of 343 million gallons of treated radioactive water (the radiation will be diluted to near background radiation levels) into the Pacific Ocean. In response China and Hong Kong have banned the importation of seafoods caught in certain Japanese prefectures. Meanwhile South Korean's are actively protesting the discharge (Some of Japan's neighbors are freaking out over the release of Fukushima water. Should they be? (nbcnews.com)) which the IAEA assures us is safe. I understand, I still feel leery about eating seafood (particularly shrimp) which may be sourced from the Gulf of Mexico (due to the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill (Deepwater Horizon | Oil Spills | Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (noaa.gov)). The alternative is purportedly worse.
Grenee
Microplastics Everywhere | Harvard Medicine Magazine
I recently heard a commentator on WNPR - News radio speaking on the subject of "Microplastics." As it turns out this miniscule matter is of increasing importance (as if there are not enough matters to be concerned about already). For someone like me, in my fifth decade, this means an increased likelihood of developing dementia and probably cancer. For younger persons, well, you can read the article for yourselves - if you choose.
It seems to me that there are a multitude of issues to dwell upon, this is just one. Think globally, act locally.
Grenee
