Georgia: WorldSign Week. News from
around the world that happened
the past week.
Women's Day - history in Saudi Arabia!
Dawn: Saudi Arabia made history
when it celebrated its own Women's
Day, a first for the ultra-
conservative Islamic kingdom.
A three-day gathering was held at
the King Fahd Cultural Center in
the capital of Riyadh.
Featured speakers argued for the
right of women to drive, and end
the male guardianship laws.
Mohammed Al-Saif, spokesman for
the Center told media "we want to
celebrate the Saudi woman" and
remind people of women's
monumental impacts on "education,
culture, medicine, literature
and other areas".
-Saudi Arabia is ranked one of the
worst in the world in gender
equality and women's rights -
women cannot interact with men,
vote, or even try on clothes while
shopping. All women must have a
male guardian, typically family or
husband, who must be asked for
permission to travel, work or
marry - which gives women status
as "secondary citizens".
It also is the only country in the
world where women cannot drive or
get a driver license!
The kingdom is now starting
several cultural and economic
reforms to benefit women, but the
reforms are being attacked by the
country's religious authority.
-Developing news in Romania:
Politicians try to decriminalize
some corruptions which caused massive uproar.
Georgia: Romania is in a state of
uproar the last several days with
its largest protests ever since
communism fell in 1989.
The cause of public anger was an
emergency decree from the one-
month-old government to ease
anti-corruption laws and protect
politicians from prosecution.
This decree sparked public outrage
with hundreds of thousands of
protesters filling the capital
city Bucharest and in other major
cities. After a week of daily
protests, the government caved in
under pressure and repealed the decree.
-Despite this victory, an
estimated half a million Romanians
have continued to protest,
chanting "Resign! Resign!",
telling the government to step
down. The people did not want to
let the government get away with
it as corruption has long been the
scourge of the country.
Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu
stood firm, saying his government
"has a responsibility to the
people who voted for us", and has
refused to resign.
-Okay. next story: Ice sheet in
Greenland is melting.
Dawn: Scientists say the Greenland
Ice Sheet is melting 600% faster
than predicted.
The major factor: climate change.
The year 2016 was the warmest ever
in more than 100 years.
Scientists estimate global sea
levels will rise by about 7
metres, enough to flood populated
coastal areas around the world.
Even worse, by the end of the
century, the melting ice may also
melt toxic waste buried by the
U.S. military a long time ago.
-As a territory under Denmark,
Greenland is home to about 55,000
people. The land boasts unique
features that sets it apart from
most of the world - it is the
world's largest island and the
world's least densely populated
country with roughly 80% covered
by a permanent ice sheet.
This ice sheet is valuable - with
compressed snow layers containing
data that is over a hundred
thousands years old, which if
melted, would vanish forever.
As the Arctic continues to melt,
there is not much of a
global public reaction.
-It's time for Deaf news - DeafWire!
Georgia: Ah Welcome to DeafWire,
first news story: Lisa Baldock, a
deaf woman, was forced to sit on
the floor of a train with her
hearing assistance dog, Inca, for
three hours despite buying a
special assistance ticket.
Lisa, who said she was "disgusted"
by the experience, posted a video
on FaceBook, hoping to raise deaf
awareness, saying: "So here I am
on a train stuck on the floor with
Inca because there is just
nowhere for us to sit.
Stranded. Tried to talking to the
guard, tried being reasonable but
they just wouldn't listen."
-The clip went viral and was
watched more than 2,000 times.
What upset her more was that she
booked a ticket for the dog.
After she tweeted the company that
owned the train, train staff
eventually found a seat for her.
Lisa told media even though it was
fair that the situation got
sorted out, the guards need
educating. They are investigating
the incident.
Dawn: A Deaf 27-year-old housewife
was gangraped by two people in
her home in southern India.
According to sources, she was
alone when two masked men forced
their way in and raped her.
During the scuffle, she was able
to snatch a mask off and was able
to identify the man as Shareef, a
cook, who lived in the same area.
Both men fled after the rape.
The victim's husband, who worked
as a hotel security guard,
returned home and was shocked to
see his wife hurt.
The couple later filed a complaint
with the local police, and the
woman was sent in for medical
examination. The police told media
that the two suspects are in
custody and that they are
currently "investigating the case."
Georgia: The Swiss Federation of
the Deaf (SFD) protested in four
cities against the government's
annual testing of the country's
7,200 sirens. Deaf people
complained that the emergency
warning system was
"discriminatory", arguing that
Deaf people risk their lives
because they're excluded from
alarm systems warning of potential
catastrophe. The sirens has been
in place since World War II to
warn of impending disasters.
When the sirens sound, people are
advised to listen to the radio,
which Deaf people cannot do!
SFD says the government should
protect the entire population, "We
demand a system that's accessible
to everyone." The government is
currently developing a new warning
system that would also send a
push notification to mobile
phones, which is planned to
come out in 2018.
-That's it for DeafWire!
Alarming news in Myanmar in Asia continent.
Dawn: The United Nations released
an alarming report accusing the
Myanmar military of a brutal
"ethnic cleansing" campaign
against Muslims in the state of Rohingya.
UN human rights investigators,
who compiled the report from
interviews with over 200 refugees,
said there was an upsurge in
violence including gang rape and
cold-blooded killings.
Witnesses testified that beside
systematic killings, there were
"killing of babies, toddlers,
children, women and elderly", mass
rapes, and intentional destruction
of food sources. UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights,
said "the devastating cruelty" the
Rohingya children went through
is unbearable.
-The UN said that since last
October, when Myanmar's military
began the campaign, around 69,000
people have fled from the northern
part of Rakhine State hearing west
for Bangladesh, a South Asian
country. Al Hussein has pleaded
with Myanmar's leadership to stop
the "grave human rights violence"
against its people.
With the release of the report, the
UN is urging the international
community to exert pressure on
Myanmar to halt military
operations. The Burmese government
has denied the "ethnic cleansing"
accusations. They said there was
no proof, and rejected any
evidence as propaganda.
-Next story - Kings and Queens
around the world have lengthy
reigns. A milestone just made
history in the United Kingdom.
Georgia: British Queen Elizabeth,
90, celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee
last Monday marking an unprecedented
65 years on the throne.
She did not publicly celebrate the
recent Jubilee but a 41-gun royal
salute was fired in her honor at a
central park in the capital city
London. Prime Minister Theresa May
said the Queen's dislike for a
special celebration and her insistence to just get back to
work, was a "testament to her
selfless devotion to the nation."
Back in 2015, she became the all-
time longest-reigning British
monarch and one year later in
October, she also became the
world's longest-reigning
living monarch!
-Elizabeth was crowned Queen at age
25, on February 6, 1952, following
the death of her father, George VI.
By the time she was crowned,
democracy was beginning to dominate
Britain and most of the world.
The era of powerful sovereign
monarchies were over.
Even though today the Queen holds
very little political power, she is
hugely popular with Britons.
Boasting an approval rating of
about 80%, she is considered a
national treasure and is highly
influential in the international
community. Due to her age, the
Queen has begun to unburden some of
her long list of duties to other
Royal members, and has cut back on
world tours, but still regularly
performs official duties around
in the country.
-Thank you for watching WorldSign Week,
go to H3WORLD.TV for more shows,
all in International Sign.
See you next week!
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