Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Almost a year later, the effects of Arab Spring are still being felt.
Last December, the people of North Africa started what is being called “Arab Spring.”
Arab Spring refers to a series of uprisings by the people in a number of Arab countries.
The citizens rebelled when they could no longer put up with dictators and their cruelty.
They forced the President of Tunisia to flee to Saudi Arabia and the President of Egypt to quit his job and move away.
Nearly a month ago, the northern Canadian First Nations community Attawapiskat declared itself to be in a “state of emergency.”
This week, as winter sets in and snow is on the ground in the remote community, they are finally getting some attention–and some help.
In Canada, a state of emergency is normally declared when something terrible happens to a place, such as an earthquake, flood or large fire.
It’s a signal to the country’s government that “we need help, immediately.”
In this case, the state of emergency is that the people of Attawapiskat, in northern Ontario are living in conditions that are worse than those in many third-world countries.
One reporter described going to Attawapiskat as, “like stepping into the fourth world.”
A brand new political party, the Coalition pour l’avenir du Quebec (Coalition for the Future of Quebec), was launched last Monday.
A coalition is a group of people, often from different backgrounds, with the same goals.
This makes six registered political parties in the Province of Quebec, where the Liberals are in power and the Bloc Quebecois is in second place.
The leader of the the new party is Francois Legault.
He is known to Quebecers as a separatist, someone who would like to see Quebec separate from Canada to become its own country.
But last week Legault spoke as though separation was not as important to him as it once was.
On Monday, the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters at Zuccotti Park in New York were evicted.
“Evicted” means made to leave. Anyone who didn’t leave the park was forcibly removed by the police.
The people in the park had been there for months. It was a peaceful protest against what they see as the gross differences in wealth between the “one per cent” of very wealthy people and everyone else (the “ninety-nine per cent”).
Zuccotti Park is owned by a company called Brookfield Properties. Brookfield had allowed the protesters to camp there since September.
Now that the protesters are gone, Brookfield is cleaning up the park. Brookfield said in a letter to New York’s mayor the park had become “unhealthy and unsafe.”
A number of countries in Europe are having problems with their finances and their leaders.
This year, four prime ministers in Europe have quit their jobs or been forced out of office.
That’s because their countries have spent more money than they make and now they can’t pay their debts.
Some of the countries are making deals with other countries in Europe and the International Monetary Fund for a “bailout.”
A bailout is a loan to a country to keep it from going bankrupt.
The richer countries agree to put in more money to save the poorer countries.
Italy’s prime minister is stepping down.
On Tuesday, Silvio Berlusconi announced that he will resign.
His announcement came after a key vote in parliament indicated that he does not have the support of the majority of parliament.
Italy is in the midst of an “economic crisis” – the country has borrowed more money than it can pay. It has too much “debt.”
Other countries, like Ireland, Portugal and most recently Greece have had similar crises.
However, Italy’s problem is much bigger and arguably more of a problem for the whole European Union (EU). The European Union is a partnership of 27 countries in Europe.
Italy is more than $2.6 trillion in debt.
Canada has always done a lot of trading with the United States, the biggest buyer of the products and natural resources it sells.
But now companies in Canada are finding other countries to trade with, like India and China.
A new report written by experts at one of Canada’s biggest banks says that by the end of this decade — the year 2020 — Canada will only trade about 60 per cent of its goods with its neighbouring country, the United States. That’s down from 75 per cent right now.
Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, was caught off-guard by a comedy team called This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
One of the fictional characters on CBC’s This Hour is Marg Delahunty.
She plays a “warrior princess journalist” who often confronts politicians in a funny way.
She “ambushes” them and talks to them about the issues of the day. It’s meant to be funny but often insightful, too.
Last week she tried to ambush Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the driveway of his home.
There are two sides to the story of what happened next.
According to Marg Delahunty (comedian Mary Walsh in real life), their camera crew ambushed the mayor at 8:30 a.m., in daylight, and in her typical loud-mouthed way she started offering the mayor some advice.
She was trying to tell him that “we bombastic buffoons should stick together.”
The most recent country to be formed in the world is called the Republic of South Sudan. It was formed on July 9, 2011.
Before July, South Sudan was part of Sudan, a country in the north-east of Africa. (Sudan itself used to be part of Egypt, but became independent in 1956.)
South Sudan was formed following two civil wars, one in the 1970s and—following an 11-year ceasefire—another which began in the 80s. The southern part of Sudan demanded independence.
When the new country’s independence was declared, its citizens took to the streets of Juba, the capital, to celebrate.
Salva Kiir Mayardit (pictured here) is the president of the new country, which has 10 states.
The former leader of Libya is dead.
Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, had been forced to step down from office when Libyans took to the streets in protest of his brutal dictatorship.
For months, he and his followers fought off the rebels. He maintained to the end that he was still Libya’s ruler.
Then, he disappeared. No one could find him.
All that ended Thursday, when rebel forces shot him to death in his hometown, Sirte.
Gadhafi’s reign over Libya was at times colourful and brutal.
He often acted like an arrogant celebrity, having meetings with dignitaries in an enormous white tent which he set up wherever he went including large cities like Paris and New York.
He had female bodyguards who wore camouflage and high-heels and carried machine guns.
