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World

Guatemalan Indigenous Land Rights Activist Wins the Goldman Environmental Prize

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For standing up to the government and nickel miners expanding into the land of his 270-member farming and fishing village, Rodrigo Tot, 60, won the largest award going for grassroots environmental activists.

“An indigenous leader in Guatemala’s Agua Caliente, Rodrigo Tot led his community to a landmark court decision that ordered the government to issue land titles to the Q’eqchi people and kept environmentally destructive nickel mining from expanding into his community,” summarized Goldman Prize.

2017 winners: mark! Lopez (sic) of the U.S.; Uroš Macerl, Slovenia; Prafulla Samantara, India; Wendy Bowman, Australia; Rodrigue Katembo, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Tot.

Japan: High Sales of Nuclear Shelters as North Korea Tension Mounts

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Nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking and chemical gas air filters have seen higher sales in recent weeks as North Korea continues its nuclear program, including nuclear and missile tests, and America and China take a tougher stance on the nation’s military activities. Some stores have sold out.

Three North Korean missiles landed in Japan’s waters, 300-350 kilometers from shore, last month.

Japan is also urging local governments to hold evacuation drills.

No Married Men: Military Recruitment in Ghana

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No married men is one of the goals of the Ghana Armed Forces. The organisation this month published a list of requirements for new recruits.

Other requirements: Must be between age 18 and 25 for non-tradesmen and 18-27 for tradesmen; not bounded; and have at least 6 credits at BECE* including Math and English plus 5 credits at SSSCE** including core Math and core English.

GAF is dealing with an “era of recruitment scams” in which would-be servicemen pay to enter the army without going through the system, although the army has repeatedly stated they do not employ middlemen or charge fees for recruitment. GAF is still working on improving their system, working with the West African Examination Council to detect fake certificates and otherwise protect their recruitment process.

* Basic Education Certificate Examination (Ghana)
** Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (Ghana)

India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste – Gates

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India, where 600,000 people die of water related illness each year (world total is 1.7 million), and where 1/4 of girls don’t attend school because there is no proper toilet facilities, headway is being made in improved sanitation and risk education, according to Bill Gates, who blogged about the improvement this month.

The problem costs India an estimated $106b per year.

Two things cause most of the problem: access to proper toilet with waste treatment (to remove the pathogens that cause illness) in a country where most public spaces are used for defecation, and education about the necessity of using sanitary toilets, according to Gates.

In India, it is not feasible to build sewer systems and treatment facilities. For most toilets, one way or another water has to be carried to the toilet regularly. India is testing new toilet technology to find other ways of preventing disease.

As evidence of the progress Gates lauds, he points towards Clean India, the Indian government’s campaign to clean up the country, which includes ambassadors and toilet-use monitoring, and the statistic the organisation reports that 63% of citizens now have access to proper sanitation, up from 42% in 2014, and that 30% of villages have been declared free of open defecation, up from 5% in 2015.

Hiker Found Alive After 7 Weeks Lost in Himalayas

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Taiwanese hiker Liang Sheng-yue was found conscious and with the remains of his girlfriend, Liu Chen-chun, and was airlifted out of a ravine near the Narchet River in the Himalayas, according to rescuer Madhav Basnet.

The couple was hiking the remote Ganesh Himal route in Dhading district, west of the Nepali capital Kathmandu.

Shengu-yue’s girlfriend perished just three days before rescue.

North Korea Agrees to First Ever UN Rights Expert Visit

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According to the UN statement, the special rapporteur on disabled people’s rights will be the first ever visit to the country by an independent expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council.

The rights council has accused North Korea of committing crimes against humanity and detaining up to 120,000 people in brutal prison camps.

U.S. Sanctioning Syrians Tied to Government Chemical Weapons

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As part of the U.S. government’s response to alleged use of chemical weapons by Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, it is placing sanctions on 271 individuals linked to the Syrian agency that produces that country’s chemical weapons and ballistic missiles.

The sanctions include travel blacklisting and financial restrictions.

Assad has said that the accusation he used chemical weapons on his people was a “fabrication” and “a pretext for the attack” the U.S. launched on a Syrian military base after the chemical attack story broke.

U.S. Navy Towards Korea

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A significant force of U.S. Navy craft is making their way towards the Korean Peninsula and is set to arrive in days. The force held routine exercises with Japanese craft in the Philippine Sea this week.

France is holding the first stage of its national election. Of five candidates, the two who receive the most votes will proceed to the next stage of the election to be chosen through another vote.

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Much talk about the most recent Islamist attack in Paris and how that might swing the vote towards the Right and anti-immigration Marine Le Pen. In the attack, a gunman opened fire on police and killed one before being killed by police fire.

Iran’s Capital – Bombing Kills 13

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ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing, but they claim lots of attacks.

Gunmen, some reportedly dressed as women, but also wearing suicide vests, attacked the Tehran parliament building with guns. A standoff with police lasted hours.

6 attackers were killed, 5 arrested.

If ISIS was indeed responsible, it would be the first time their Sunni extremist group has successfully attacked Shia Iran, although they have been trying, reportedly. It is difficult for Sunni extremists to attack Iran because Iran is around 90% Shia, and Tehran is around 95% Shia, so there is not much of a reservoir of support for themthere.

ISIS would see an attack on Iran as a huge symbolic victory, according to analysts, as ISIS is against Iran like it’s against the U.S.

Iran blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack and vowed retaliation. The longstanding conflict between Middle East countries continues.