Grace
Man Who Aids Al Qaeda gets an 18 year Prison Sentence
Sabirhan Hasanoff, who aided Al Qaeda gets an eighteen year sentence after pleading guilty. The jury wanted a maximum sentence but when all evidence was found and the man apologized for his actions, he was given mercy and only eighteen years. He was a New York accountant who had access to the stock exchange and passed on information and financial assistance to Al Qaeda. He was asked to pay a multitude of fines because of potential impact he could have made on our country. He had many devices and knowledge sent to Al Qaeda as he held the job of a New York accountant. It seemed to many people he was a great, caring, loving, father and husband but all of that did not stop his schemes to help Al Qaeda.
Hasanoff was asked to pay $70,000 as a fine and to serve an 18 year sentence even after apologizing to everyone in court and saying he did not have an excuse for what he did. Some say his extremism was because he was lured by others into it. Others say there is no call for leniency for this case because he agreed to provide support to Al Qaeda and that was his decision. He was found to have also said he wanted to go overseas to learn how to fight Americans, some even said that he had planned to leave his family and fight jihad against the Americans. It was also found that he had an aid in all of this who was New York-born who was arrested with Hasanoff and will be sentenced after November 18th.
Ben
Venezuelan President Calls for Expulsion of U.S. Diplomats
On Monday September 9, 2013 Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela ordered for three U.S diplomats to be expelled from the country on the grounds of their alleged involvement in acts geared towards sabotaging and destabilizing Venezuela. “They have 48 hours to leave the country” Maduro said during his televised announcement. "We have seen Maduro's televised announcement but we have not received any official notification of expulsions," said a U.S. State Department spokesperson.
This is just one of Maduro’s many accusations against plots to destablize Venezuela or assasinate him. Over the course of his presidency he has made at least eleven more of these accusations. Allegedly the three United States diplomats were involved with political oppponents of his government financing them and supporting them in their efforts to sabotage the country’s electrical system and economy.
In response to the accusation a U.S. State department spokesperson said, “We completely reject the Venezuelan government's allegations of U.S. government involvement in any type of conspiracy to destabilize the Venezuela government." Although the expulsion of the three diplomats in Venezuela may not be gone through with, the Maduro has cancelled his plans to fly out to New York to attend a U.N. General Assembly because of “plots to physically harm him there”.
Kayleon
Turkish Human Rights Abuse
A report was released in Istanbul, on Wednesday, stating that Turkish authorities used unforgivable means of force in response to an environmentalist sit-in. The purpose of this sit-in was to go against the government’s plans to get rid of Gezi Park, replacing it with a shopping mall. The police were accused of firing plastic bullets and tear gas canisters, sexually abusing female demonstrators, and severely beating and shooting protesters. Two men died as a result of it all. "The levels of violence used by police in the course of Gezi Park protests clearly show what happens when poorly trained, poorly supervised police officers are instructed to use force -- and encouraged to use it unsparingly -- safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely ever to be identified or prosecuted for their abuses," said Amnesty International's Turkey expert, Andrew Gardner. Because of their status in society, they feel that they’re excluded from the consequences that come with certain actions. “I viewed the peaceful demonstrations of the young people at Gezi Park... as a new manifestation of our democratic maturity," said Abdullah Gul. The president of Turkey’s response to all of this is reform.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/world/europe/turkey-human-rights/index.html?c=europe
Syria Children Go Back to School
By Lacey Godwin
Today October 1st, children in Madaya walked into a classroom in a village in northern Syria. They approached there school eager to get in after being out for almost a year due to war of opposition forces and troops loyal to the president Bashar Assad. Despite the risk of bombardment, two-hundred students rushed to school this morning. People suspect they are here and happy for the normalcy that school brings; Abdo al-Fikri says that “we go to school in fear that they’ll shell us with rockets, airplanes and missiles.”
Despite that the Syrian war has been going on for almost three years and has killed 100,000 people and displaced millions, parents are still willing to send their children to school even in the midst of the terrible time. One Syrian mother said, “Education for my children is more important than anything else. The war has affected our children’s brain more than the all the damage to buildings,” said a father in northern Syria. The Syrian people have taken this problem to heart, another father explains that watching his child sit at home during the beginning of the school year is “like watching them lose their future”.
Activists say that in a rebel-held area, which have largely descended into chaos, more than half the schools have closed. The few schools that are functional are still under great threat. On Sunday, a high school in the rebel-held northern city of Raqqa was hit with a Syrian government air raid, which killed more than dozens of people most of which was students. The students that were killed were attending their first day of school. People say even children going to school on the first day aren’t safe.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-drydenpeterson/education-in-syria_b_3880500.html
Megan
Since May of this year eighty-seven deceased elephants have been found in Zimbabwe. The elephants were found to have been poisoned by cyanide on natural salt licks. Fifty-one of the one hundred and seventy-four tusks have been found; poachers are now left with one hundred and twenty-three to sell on the black market.
In 2011 and 2012 elephants are killed for ivory trade in record numbers. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force stated that tougher action is required. Johnny Rodriguez chairman of the task force said, “They need to be given some extensive jail time. If it was, they wouldn't carry on doing it." He then went on to accuse Zimbabwe of not putting enough effort into trying to stop illegal poaching acts. By killing the elephants with cyanide other animal populations could be severely affected. If an animal ingests traces of cyanide left behind on the dead elephant the animal could be harmed. For example, if a group of vultures eats an elephant that recently died due to cyanide they could all die by eating traces of the poison.
The countries elephant population is currently between 35,000 and 45,000. However, illegal poaching acts have already endangered or destroyed other species. The International Fund for Animal Welfare recently stated that one elephant is killed for ivory trade every fifteen minutes. If poaching continues elephants could no longer exist at all.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/25/world/africa/zimbabwe-elephant-poaching/index.html