Stranded in Serbia

Hungary's new border policy has left thousands of migrants stuck in neighboring
countries.

Thousands Of refugees and migrants are stranded in Serbia on Monday after Hungary
sealed off a border for the second time this year.

Hungary has constructed(ll razor-wire fences along its borders with Serbia and Croatia to
prevent the entry Of people who have fled their homes in the Middle East and Africa and
entered Central Europe in record numbers. The fence along the border with Serbia went
up in September, leading migrants and refugees to turn to Croatia to continue their
journey northward. The barrier along the Croatian border went into effect early Saturday.
The latest closure has forced refugees west; on Saturday, 5,000 people entered121
Slovenia, which says it will accept 2,500 refugees per day. The closure has also created a
huge bottleneck along Serbia's border with Croatia.

"It is like a big river of people, and if you stop the flow, you will have floods somewhere,"
Melita Sunjic, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told(31
Reuters of the backlog. "That's what's happening now."

More than 10,000 people entered Serbia from Macedonia on Sunday, according to the UN
refugee agency, Reuters reported. On Monday, 6,000 were stranded along the Serbia-
Croatia border after a cold night Of rains. UNHCR reports a shortage Of food and blankets
there. Reuters photos show some refugees burning shoes to create bonfires to warm
themselves. Many are "out in the open, they cannot sleep on the ground because of knee-
deep mud," says Sunjic. One doctor in Serbia said some were suffering from
hypothermia. "We don't have a chance to treat; we don't have the actual medicine to be
given out; we don't have any more raincoats," he told the BBC. At least 2,000 people
slept on a train held on the Croatian side Of the border.

Central European countries are passing around the blame for the bottleneck. Slovenia
says Croatia ignored its quotas for migrants and is transporting large groups of people to
their border. Croatian officials say Slovenia has changed several times the number Of
migrants it says it is willing to accept, and accuse Greece of not doing enough to slow the
flood Of people entering the region. Serbia quarreled(81 with Croatia last month over the
latter's border restrictions, which have since been lifted. And Hungary blames pretty
much everyone.

The bottleneck is expected to only get worse. More than 5,000 people cross into the
region from Greece every day.

Response:

This article shares the ongoing story of the migrants in Europe. It has come to a point that the migrants are overwhelming the countries. Hungary has completely closed its borders to the migrants, as it has been trying to do the entire time, but with their closing many other countries are receiving the overflow. This migrant issue is very sad to see that they are stranded in terrible conditions, but it is the countries choice as to how many they take in, if any. The author does seem a bit bias toward Hungary and against their decision to completely block off their borders from the migrants. I understand why the writer would be opposed, because it can be observed as harsh. Although Hungary has blocked off its borders, there are still many countries that are accepting the migrants. Overall, the writer has informative information on the issue and shows how the migrant influx has affected the countries involved.

Koren, Marina. "Stranded in Serbia." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/serbia-croatia-hungary-crisis/411220/>.

Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended

Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended

Jill Craig
October 05, 2015 12:21 PM
NAIROBI, KENYA—
Kenya's teachers and students have returned to class, after a five-week teachers' strike
was suspended. The country's teachers' unions called the strike at the beginning Of the
school year after the government said it was unable to pay a court-ordered salary
increase

Kenya's public school students and teachers returned to classrooms Monday, following
the suspension of the national teachers' strike. Teachers' unions agreed to comply with a
court order that will give them 90 days to negotiate salary terms with the government.

The government maintains it cannot afford to pay the mandated 50- to 60-percent wage
Increase.

Still, Shukri Abdiraham Maalim, a teacher at Jamhuri High School in Nairobi, said he is
glad to be back at work.

"We are very happy to come back and help the students. Because students were suffering
and they were doing nothing at home,- he said. "And even the parents, they were
complaining about keeping the children at home for doing nothing."

Students' preparations :

Some secondary students at Jamhuri insist they were using their free time productively,
to prepare for upcoming exams.

Eleventh grader Stephen Kariuki said he is confident the strike will not affect his grades.
"I think we are going to excel because most of us were studying alone at home and some
of us were coming at school to study. So I do not think that we have lost much, despite
the teachers being away," said Kariuki.

Twelfth-grader Edwin Ondara said he has been coming to school since the strike began to
prepare for exams

"We had few teachers, and few lessons, but today, I have seen a great change. Teachers
are many in numbers, and they are taking their lessons very serious," said Ondara.
And because Of this seriousness, Kariuki said he hopes his teachers receive a good raise.
"Yeah, they should make more money because they are the ones who make everyone in
the society, the politicians, the engineers. so, they should earn more than the politicians
because they pass through their hands," he said.

Response:
It is very exciting to hear, that the teachers in Kenya have ceased their strike and have returned to teaching in the public schools once more. It is obvious to see why the teachers wanted to strike in the first place, because they thought they were going to receive a raise, that in the end could not be achieved by the government. It is also seen that it would be impossible for the government to pay all the teachers the amount of money the court was requiring without the country going bankrupt. This article is obviously trying to shine a positive light on the situation by quoting students whom have been desperately striving to gain knowledge and pass their exams. It is not wrong that their bias is positive, but they could have shown that the strike had a negative effect on Kenya; since all the students were out in the city without any structure or super vision, and their parents had to be at work. It is good to read that the teachers are serious and that will affect the work of the students. Overall, the article makes the point that the teachers are teaching once more and the students are learning.

Craig, Jill. "Kenya's Teachers Return to Class as Strike Suspended." 

Voice of America. Voice of America, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-teachers-return-to-class-as-strike-suspended/2992164.html>.

World Leaders push for women's equality at UN summit

World leaders push for women's equality at UN summit

New York - World leaders pledged money and political clout to achieve equality for
women by 2030 at a UN meeting Sunday co-chaired by China's President Xi Jinping, who
has faced strong criticism for cracking down on women's rights activists. 

Among the Chinese leader's strongest critics was Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton who tweeted: -Xi hosting a meeting on women's rights at the UN while
persecuting feminists? Shameless.' 

Leaders from about 80 countries and dozens of diplomats attended the meeting to mark
the 20th anniversary Of the UN women's conference in Beijing and press for
implementation of its 150-page action plan for gender equality, which remains one of the
17 new development goals adopted by world leaders on Friday. 

As US first lady, Clinton galvanized the 1995 Beijing conference with a rousing speech
that included words that have become a mantra for the global women's movement:
"human rights are women 's rights and women's rights are human rights". 

Xi partly echoed her words, telling Sunday's meeting that "women's rights and interests
are basic human rights. They must be protected by laws and regulations." 

But he did not mention any of the women activists targeted by the Chinese government,
women such as 71 -year-old journalist Gao Yu, arrested in 2014 and sentenced to seven
years in prison on charges of -leaking state secrets overseas," or human rights lawyer
Wang Yu, a campaigner against sexual harassment of school girls and defender of
women's rights activists who was arrested in July and is being held at a secret location on
suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power. "

Nor did he mention the five women who spent 37 days in detention this year because
they planned to advocate against sexual harassment on public transportation. In a letter
on Thursday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Women, the "China Feminist
Five" expressed hope that Xi would announce concrete plans and measurements to
promote gender equality and women's empowerment, and that their wrongful cases
would be dropped soon. He did not. 

Xi did draw loud applause when he announced a S 10m donation to UN Women, the
agency promoting women's rights, to accelerate implementation of the Beijing platform,
and again when he announced that in the next five years China will help developing
countries produce 100 "health projects" for women and children, finance 100 programs to
send poor girls to school, train 30 000 women from developing countries in China, and
provide training opportunities for 100,000 women in other developing countries. 

US Ambassador Samantha Power attended the meeting after putting up the 20th photo in
the window of the US Mission across the street from UN headquarters of a woman rights
activist who should have been at Sunday's meeting instead Of in jail. The photos include
China's Gao, Wang, and Liu Xia who has been under house arrest since the October 2010
announcement that her husband, Liu Xiaobo, received the Nobel Peace Prize. 

While progress on women 's rights over the past 20 years has been striking, Power said at
the photo ceremony that "many governments continue to suppress women's basic rights,
including by locking them up for speaking out about injustice and fundamental
freedoms. " 

Chinese foreign ministry official Li Junhua responded to the criticism saying the women
had not been detained for their activism on behalf Of women 's rights but for their having
violated Chinese laws and regulations. 

He called some opinions "totally groundless" and said some are due to "a lack of
understanding of the situation on the ground 

Switzerland exceeded China's donation to UN Women. President Simonetta Sommaruga
said it will increase its contribution to almost S50m for the 2015 to 2017 period, but most
other commitments from more than 45 countries were in promised actions rather than
money. 

Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah pledged to "spare no effort" to
implement a law ending violence against women. Austrian President Heinz Fischer made
a commitment "to further tackling gender stereotyping." 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government will launch an initiative to
improve the professional qualifications Of women in developing countries and promote
"the entrepreneurial power of women. " 

Mozambique's President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi committed "to combatting harmful gender
practices that violate human rights since as early marriage, sexual abuse and trafficking
of children. 

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sit-leaf told the meeting that "for women and girls
throughout the world, my election is commitment to women's equality." But she said
much more remains to be done including ensuring that a bill to prevent domestic
violence is passed by the legislature.

Response:

The first part of this article focusses on the Chinese leader, Xi, and how he pushed for women's rights in the meeting, but failed to discuss the women rights activists that have been targeted in the past year. Hilary Clinton even called him "shameless" on her twitter feed, since he was for women's rights in the UN summit, but had no actions in advance to support his mind set. Li Junhau defends Xi by telling them that the women were not targeted because of their radical support of women rights, but because they violated Chinese law. Although most of the article is about Xi and the women activists in China, the rest of the article is about what other nations and countries are doing to achieve the equality of women. Although some have promised to support it financially, the majority have only promised actions that may improve society for women. Through the whole piece we see that the importance of sexual equality has become a world issue, and many countries are combatting the oppression of women. It has become the "right thing to do", so obviously the writer and publisher are going to be bias towards women's rights which will then persuade the reader to feel like there should be more action towards their actions, whether it be financial or actual actions.

"World Leaders Push for Women's Equality at UN Summit."
News 24. News 24, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. <http://www.news24.com/World/News/World-leaders-push-for-womens-equality-at-UN-summit-20150928>.