Rachel's News Journal

Recently, Peru has been heavily involved with Conflicts in Venezuela. The article “Peru Wants no Military Solution on Venezuela”describes the actions that the Peruvian president is choosing to take with regards to the Venezuelan issue. This is article is relevant because it describes decisions currently being made in Peru’s government.

Venezuela has suffered economic collapse and mass emegrition under president Maduro. According to Peru’s president, military solutions in Venezuela have been rejected, but there are still human rights complaints being discussed to restore Venezuelan democracy. Peruvian president Vizcarra has rejected military action, so as to not affect the population. Columbia’s president added that he and other head of state would be meeting to sign a declaration to denounce Maduro’s government with the International Criminal Court after being accused of “crimes against humanity”. On the Peruvian side, Vizcarra recently won a confidence vote in Peru over his reforms to combat corruption in Peru, and therefore decided not to dissolve Congress. He expects the measures to pass by October fourth.

This article is significant because it shows the current relationships between South American countries, and the current leadership that is in place in these countries.

Reuters, “Peru Wants no Military Solution on Venezuela.” The New York Times, 25 Sept. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/09/25/world/americas/25reuters-peru-politics.html

In his Article “Giving Malaria a Deadline”, Nicholas Wade describes the new ways that scientists plan on reducing the spread of Malaria. This is relevant to health as a global issue because  Malaria is a deadly global disease that is affecting millions of people.

In this article, Wade describes how scientists have found a new way to manipulate mosquito genetics that will force the entire population to self destruct.It has proved successful in laboratory tests, and should eliminate the population from large areas of Africa in two decades. A team led by Andrea Crisanti, a biologist at Imperial College, London, altered a gene that disrupts the mosquitos sexual development, ensuring that they will be unable to reproduce. Previous efforts to do this have failed, but this one looks promising.

This article is significant because the Malaria epidemic is a serious one that affects millions of people, mostly in underdeveloped countries. This will hopefully be the cure and end the hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.

Wade, Nicholas. “Giving Malaria a Deadline.” The New York Times, 24 Sep. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/science/gene-drive-mosquitoes.html?

In Andrew Ross Sorkin’s article “When a Female C.E.O Leaves, the Glass Ceiling is Restored”, Sorkin discusses how Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi has stepped down, resulting in one less female CEO.  This is significant to women in development because it draws attention to how limited the number of female CEOs are in big businesses.

After Indra Nooyi’s departure from Pepsi, there will only be 24 women as ceos of the companies that make up the companies of Standard and Poor’ 500 stock index. The number of female ceos is decreasing, with two others recently stepping down. The replacement CEO is hardly ever another woman. This is because boards have fewer women, a wage gap still exists, and women still lack opportunities to be promoted. Females have often hesitated to promote another female because they are afraid they will be accused of bias.

This article is relevant because it draws it brings awareness to the issue of the limited number of women in development.

Sorkin, Andrew Ross.”When a Female C.E.O Leaves, the Glass Ceiling is Restored.”The New York Times, 6 Aug. 2018,https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/business/dealbook/indra-nooyi-women-ceo.html

Vivian Lee and Hwaida Saad’s article “For Lebanese Women, a Beach of One’s Own” reports on the new women-exclusive beaches in Lebanon. These beaches would allow women of the muslim faith to enjoy a day at the beach while still practicing their religion. This relates to Sustainable Development because these beaches achieve the goal of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

Muslim women in middle eastern countries consider it forbidden to expose skin in front of men who are not their husbands. The ladies beaches, such as Bellvue Beach, allow them to do this. These beaches began offering ladies only days in the mid 1990s. No men or cameras are allowed. Although other middle eastern countries offer these types of opportunities, the article recognizes that Lebanon is one of the more liberal middle eastern countries.

Overall, the women interviewed in the article seem to enjoy the freedoms given to them by these beaches. This is significant because although it is a small act, this opportunity is one step closer to achieving the Sustainable development goal of gender equality.

Yee, Vivian, and Saad, Hwaida.”For Lebanese Women, a Beach of One’s Own.” The New York Times, 10 Sept. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/middleeast/lebanon-women-beach.html?

In the his article “How Rising Inequality has Widened the Justice Gap”, Robert H. Frank discusses how the legal system is stacked against families and people of lower incomes. This article is relevant to the issues of poverty and economic inequality because it discusses the effects of poverty in regards to the legal system.

This article begins with a statistic that seventy percent of low-income households have been involved in some sort of legal case, and most of these households lacked effective representation. Many families simply cannot afford these resources. This is why congress created the Legal Services Corporation in 1974,” a nonprofit whose mission is to support civil legal aid for low-income citizens”. However, this program was never adequately funded. The author explains that simply raising the taxes would help fund this program, while keeping wealthy taxpayers in the top 10 percent.

This article is significant because this issue is detrimental to many everyday people. Those affected by this economic inequality could lose their children, their homes, and their livelihood. People who are not struggling could support those who are affected by supporting a tax increase for those who can afford it.

Frank, Robert H. “How Rising Inequality has Widened the Justice Gap.” The New York Times, 31 Aug. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/rising-inequality-widened-justice-gap.html