Military Opens Fire On Civilians In Sudan

By: Emily Radtke

In Sudan, people are struggling to turn the government into a democracy. On Monday, June 3rd, the military force opened fire on civilians. An estimated 35 people died and hundreds injured during the attack. This happened after a hopeful negotiation between the military and the civilians about who should run the government during a transitional period (this transitional period is to help make it harder for groups to undermine the government.) Sadly, during a protest, the military (as said above) open fired and beat civilians. This atrocity has been condemned by multiple groups of countries such as the United Nations, the African Union and Western Governments. But with this, Arab nations have agreed with the Sudan military force.

This is a situation thought to be heading for the better taking a turn for the worst. The protesters have dreaded when the military might try to clear them from the protesting zone. Let's hope the people of Sudan can govern themselves and have real freedom, not fear for what might be lurking around the corner.

Same Sex Marriage Accepted in Taiwan

By Emily Radtke

Last Friday Taiwan voted on whether or not same sex couples should be allowed to marry. Taiwan has now been recognized as the first country in Asia to to allow same sex couples to marry and for it to be recognized as law. This has taken a year and a half to get passed. The country placed Tsai Ing-wen in office in 2016, who showed an interest in the LGBT community while running, but in office it didn’t seem like the LGBT community was number one. Taiwanese conservatives in 2017 moved to try and stop any way for same sex couples to marry; this caused the lawmakers with president Tsai Ing-wen to withdraw “leaving the laws in limbo.”

Eventually the law was passed last Thursday that a same sex marriage would be viewed as legitimate under law. It has been an uphill battle for the LGBT community in Taiwan. “In 1986, when now-democratic Taiwan was under brutal martial law, Mr. Chi was imprisoned for coming out as gay.” He says that the country still has a way to go but the progress is good.

Protests in Sudan from previous months show promising results

By Emily Radtke

(Background Info on Sudan)

Sudan has been under the government of Egypt and Britain for centuries. Eventually, the country gained a government of itself. This made a situation between the main religions in Sudan and the person or group in the seat of government, which began a civil war in Sudan. The civil war was from 1983 to 2005, where the two sides created the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The war was between the Sundanese central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. It was basically a continuation of the first war that was from 1955 to 1972, and is one of the longest civil wars on record. Roughly 2 million people died during this conflict. The civil war resulted in South Sudan becoming independent. The civilian death count is one of the highest since world war two, in which 70-85 million civilian deaths has been estimated.

The information below will be about North Sudan or Sudan. As you can see, the citizens of Sudan haven’t been allowed or able to govern themselves. Protests from previous months in Sudan have started to shed a glimmer of hope for the country to be democratic, which is the goal for the people who live in Sudan.

(Now)

After protests for several months, the ruler of Sudan, President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, fell after 30 years of ruling. This was one step the citizens of Sudan have for transferring to a democracy. Though the main head of the aristocratic state has left, the people of Sudan are still concerned that the military will stop the change they are fighting for. That is why they are refusing to stop their protests until all their demands are met. Both the military and the citizens of Sudan agree that there should be a waiting period before an election is to take place. They do, however, disagree about when.

The protesters want a longer waiting period so the country will be ready for the transition into democracy. There have been incidents where a country rushed into an election and then undermined the democracy. With this information and the knowledge of other countries’ experiences, the citizens of Sudan believe that they can steer away from going back into a state where they don’t run the government and are forced to have harsh rules. Hopefully this will be the case and the citizens of Sudan will be able to run the government where they live.

Sri Lanka Social Media Block Update

By Emily Radtke

The ban on social media sites in Sri Lanka has been lifted. When the government put the blockings in place to prevent misinformation, it had lifted some questions about censorship. This means that the blocking raised questions about the government trying to suppress the public's information. Also the citizens of Sri Lanka were able to surpass the block by spreading information thru virtual private networks anyway. Another thing so you might be able to understand the situation, Sri Lankan Government had blocked social media sites temporarily last year because they said the sites were being used to incite violence.

Terror Attack on Sri Lanka: 290 People Dead

By: Emily Radtke

Monday 4/22/19

“A coordinated series of bombings ripped through churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing at least 290 people and injuring hundreds more.” On Sunday, April 21, eight blasts were carried out in Sri Lanka, killing many people. It was not immediately clear as to who had carried out such an attack, but it was clear these bombings were an act of terror. It seems as though the main targets of the affair were Sri Lanka's Christian Community, roughly 21.4 million people, this is less than 10% of the entire population. Police have luckily arrested 24 people known to have a connection to this tragic event. Sri Lanka is also being assisted by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Interpol (the International Criminal Police Organization).

Also due to this attack, social media has been blocked since Sunday.

• Facebook
• WhatsApp
• Youtube
• Snapchat

The sites above have been blocked due to "false news reports" circulating online about the country’s drastic steps. For background information about other events where use was unhelpful for a terror attack, in recent months a Facebook user had streamed a video about the terror attack in New Zealand. This video was not taken down until Facebook was notified by New Zealand police. This is a reason Sri Lanka decided to block this app momentarily, because false information can be dangerous.

Tuesday, 4/23/19

Yesterday, it was found that 290 people were killed in the bombings, but to add up all 8 blasts 310 were found dead with at least 500 injured. We have also been able to find that ISIS claimed responsibility for this, though there is “no direct evidence the group coordinated the bombings.” Authorities in Sri Lanka have arrested 40 people that have been found to have connections in the terror attack that happened Sunday. Though with all these people found guilty, there are people still on the streets with explosives and there is of right know no way to conclude how many may be out there. Let's hope all the people responsible for this horrific bombing are taken into custody.

Global Tech Rules

By: Emily

“DAVOS, Switzerland — Leaders of Japan, South Africa, China and Germany issued a series of calls on Wednesday for global oversight of the tech sector.” This meeting was an attempt to push international data use rules. This would make it so the fears of tech expanding so rapidly will be handled. China's vice president Wang Qishan did agree with needing more oversight of the tech sector, yet did not mention personal security and did emphasize that each country should have space to make its own rules. “It is imperative to respect national sovereignty and refrain from seeking technological hegemony, interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs and conducting, shielding or protecting technology-enabled activities that undermine other countries’ national security,” Vice President Wang said.

Rules for the tech sector have not seemed to be reached during this meeting but we can expect to have more conversation on this topic.

2 Plane Crashes In Last 6 months

By: Emily Radtke

A new plane called the Boeing 737 Max 8 has had two plane crashes in the last 6 months. The second plane crash happened on March 10th, 2019 in Ethiopia. Since then, countries have been grounding the plane, meaning they are not aloud to be flown on airlines or in their airspace.

As the plane crashes had more investigation, similarities were found between the Indonesia plane crash 6 months prior and the one in Ethiopia. Other than the crashes being the same plane on both crash sites, two black boxes were found and are being sent to France to be investigated. The second similarity showed after examination of flight data recorder and cockpit voice recordings, that both crashes happened within minutes of takeoff and also that pilots in the Ethiopian crash had commented on loss of control.

Before this information had been released, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) refused to ground the planes before more information was found. On Wednesday, March 13th, the United States was the last of 46 countries to ban the plane (The countries are listed on the image below). The FAA didn’t only ground it in the US but permanently grounded the plane from US airlines. From both crashes, 346 people died. From the people on the planes 0 survived the crashes, including all crew members and passengers.

Space Debris

By: Emily Radtke

India has tested an anti-satellite missile. They practiced this test close to earth, making the debris less impactful to the ISS (International Space Station). NASA has some concerns about this. Though India had made the test as little impact as possible, other countries are bound to follow. This could potentially be a problem for the ISS. Debris could potentially hit the ISS making it unsafe for astronauts. NASA is already tracking 23,000 different debris that start at the size of 4 inches in diameter and up. This doesn’t include all of the debris that are undetectable by NASA. So but missing satellites and creating more debris. It is very dangerous.

New Zealand Shooting

By: Ellie Lowenberg

The world is shaken up by the two terrorists attacks and shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15 March 2019. The attacks killed 50 people and injured 50 others. The first attack was even livestreamed on Facebook by the suspect. The nearby schools were locked down and everyone was scared. Once police forces showed up, 21 minutes after the first emergency call, and the suspects were arrested. It looked like it was finally over. After the attacks, when interviewed, President Donald Trump said "I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. It's certainly a terrible thing." And the whole world is sending it's best to New Zealand to help them get through this hard time.