Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The U.S. government was partially shut down on Monday.
More than 800,000 government workers were forced to stop working.
They won’t get paid during the shutdown.
More than 400 public sites that are run by the federal government were closed.
They include national parks, monuments such as the Statue of Liberty in New York, historic sites, lakeshores and walking trails.
About 97 per cent of NASA employees will be sent home during the shutdown, according to The Washington Post newspaper.
Last month, many Tłı̨chǫ people travelled hundreds of kilometres in the Northwest Territories to participate in their aboriginal government.
They travelled by airplane or by canoe.
The annual journey by canoe to this “gathering” is called “Trails of Our Ancestors.”
The annual gathering is an important part of the Tłı̨chǫ government because it provides an opportunity for Tłı̨chǫ citizens to ask questions, provide recommendations and offer direction to the elected chiefs and Assembly members.
Nelson Mandela is responding well to treatment, according to his doctors.
Mandela is one of the most well-known and respected people in the world.
He is 94 years old and is in hospital, fighting a recurring lung infection.
Doctors say he is in serious but stable condition.
To many people around the world, Mandela is known as a great hero.
He fought for the freedom of blacks in South Africa.
During the 1950s until the late 1980s, South Africa was ruled by a relatively small number of white people. Black people, in the majority in the country, had few rights.
The separation of white people and black people** was known as “apartheid.”
Blacks were not allowed to be citizens, and were not given the same rights as white people. Services for black people were greatly inferior to those provided to white people. Black people were not allowed access to the best schools, hospitals, beaches or many other services to which the country’s white people had access.
Apartheid was denounced around the world, but South Africa’s government refused to change its policy.
Nelson Mandela, and people who followed him, wanted to change things.
In Turkey, a country in eastern Europe, a huge protest has been taking place in the largest city, Istanbul.
It started last week when the government wanted to make over a main square, taking away trees and building a shopping mall.
It also planned to rebuild a historical building, a former Ottoman army barracks.
The Ottoman Empire was very strong in Turkey in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Unlike Arab Spring, when many Middle East countries erupted with protests against the government, Turkey’s government has always been seen around the world as more tolerant than many of those countries.
So when cause of the protests seemed to be a local problem, people thought is must be a very different kind of protest.
Teens across Canada will soon be helping their peers to shut down bullying.
The Canadian government announced it will spend a quarter of a million dollars on a new anti-bullying project called Stand Up to Bullying and Discrimination in Canadian Communities.
The Canadian Red Cross will organize the project, which will involve more than 50,000 Canadian youths.
The first step will be for 2,400 “facilitators,” aged 13 to 17, to put on anti-bullying workshops. The goal is for least 20 young people to be in the audience at each workshop.
The project’s second phase includes three gatherings, led by young people, in Ontario, British Columbia and the Atlantic region. During each gathering, 150 Canadian kids will be empowered to “take action against bullying and discrimination in their communities,” according to a media release from the Canadian Red Cross.
“The Red Cross has been working for many years in Canada to engage youth and harness their leadership to prevent bullying and harassment,” said Conrad Sauvé, Secretary General and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross,” according to the media release.
The Canadian Senate is an important part of the Government of Canada, but now some senators are being investigated to find out if they took money they weren’t entitled to.
A senator’s job is to give the final approval to a bill before it becomes law.
Some Senate members have been accused of taking money for things that are not covered by their Senate budget.
The expenses of senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Mac Harb, and Patrick Brazeau are being looked at.
Mike Duffy used to be a journalist before he was appointed to the Senate. In the Senate, he represents Prince Edward Island.
He was accused, along with the other senators, of taking money for things that he had no right to.
The Liberals unexpectedly won the provincial election in British Columbia on Tuesday surprising many people, who thought the New Democratic Party (NDP) would win.
The Liberals and the NDP are two of Canada’s biggest political parties.
The Liberals were already in power in B.C.; after this election, they will stay in power.
Being “in power” in this case means they are responsible for making many of the important decisions involving laws and money in the province. It also means that their leader is the Premier of the province.
Many people—including political experts—thought the New Democratic Party would win the election. Not only did the Liberals win, but they won a “majority government.” That means they have more seats in the legislature than all of the other parties combined.
Bitcoin sounds like what it is–a type of money.
But it’s a special kind of money that could not exist without the Internet. It is digital and virtual; people can’t carry it around in their pockets or keep it in a bank.
Despite these differences from traditional money, there are places around the world that are starting to accept bitcoins to pay for things.
Some restaurants and shops in New York and San Francisco accept bitcoins, and so does WordPress, a blogging website.
A man in Alberta is offering to sell his house for bitcoins instead of Canadian dollars.
Bitcoins have been around for a few years but are becoming more popular.
Sirens. Security alarms. Sales pitches: “Taxi? Good restaurant! Best music CD? My art studio?”
These are the new sounds of Havana, Cuba.
This is my sixth time in Cuba–I am here on vacation; this year, I hear and see change.
It is almost 55 years since Cuba became a socialist country. In Cuba, socialism means that each Cuban has the same rights, the same salary and the same education as everyone else in the country.
Fidel Castro, former President of Cuba, brought socialism to the country in 1959 when he and his rebel forces took over the government. Now Cubans receive free education, free health care and most jobs have been protected by the government.
But the Cuban government is running out of money to pay for everything.
Things have to change.
More Canadian students are signing up for French immersion, according to a report by Statistics Canada.
Even though the number of students in Canada is going down, the number of students taking French immersion has gone up by 12 per cent in the last five years. That information is based on the 2011 census.
The trend is particularly strong out west. Over the past 12 years, the number of students in British Columbia and Alberta taking French immersion has risen steadily. The number in Saskatchewan and Ontario are also climbing.
French immersion is when a student whose first language is not French, studies in French.
