Alessio: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
U.S. President Donald Trump's Year
After Donald Trump's inauguration as
the 45th president of the United States
in January, there has been numerous
scandals which has affected his
administration. The most visible was
ongoing allegations that Trump's
colleagues partnered with Russian
officials to influence results of the
2016 presidential elections and help
Trump win the election. Trump continues
to steadfastly deny involvement, but it
did not stop him from firing the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
director who was investigating
connections between the
Trump campaign and Russia.
-Public outrage followed when Trump
signed an executive order to ban entry
for citizens from seven Muslim
countries. This order has since been
overturned by a federal judge who
deemed it was illegal. Trump has failed
to repeal Obamacare, federal universal
health care legislation, which was one
of his key election campaign promises.
Fourteen staff members and cabinet
members resigned, or were fired by the
president, in nine months - unlike
administration of any previous U.S.
presidents in history. What will 2018
bring for Donald Trump?
Dawn: Welcome! This is Year In Review
Special Edition 2017!
Brexit Negotiations
In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted
to exit the European Union, a
partnership of 28 countries. It is,
however, not as simple as anticipated -
it would require negotiating
approximately 700 issues ranging from
trade to citizenship to borders to
repealing laws in these 28 countries
that have their own currency, laws, and
governments to deal with. Transition
officially began on March 29 and is
expected to be finalized on March, 2019
- two years from now.
-Talks began in June between U.K. prime
minister Theresa May's team and the EU
commission. One main point that was
raised is money - how much will the
U.K. have to pay to fulfil its
financial obligations before it leaves?
If a deal with EU is not agreed upon by
2019, May is not concerned with the
timeframe, her concern is not to rush
into signing a bad deal.
-Now, let's go to next story.
Alessio: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
Russian role in the U.S. presidential elections
After allegations of collusion between
staff members of U.S. president Donald
Trump during his presidential campaign
and Russian government officials became
public, have you thought how Russia
would benefit? The previous U.S.
president, Barack Obama, imposed
sanctions on Russia for its military
involvement in Syria and the Ukraine.
It was alleged the Russians made an
agreement with the Americans to hack
into the U.S. presidential elections.
Trump won the elections so supposedly
these sanctions should be lifted. But
revelations of the meddling became public.
-Trump questioned the validity of such
allegations. However, relations between
U.S. and Russia cooled, with more
sanctions on Russia. Putin denied such
involvement, saying it could have been
done by "patriotic Russians who felt
compelled to respond to perceived
slights against Russia from America."
Despite this, a poll surveying Russians
concluded Trump was as popular as
ever, "with confidence in the U.S.
president to do the right thing
regarding world affairs."
-Now, let's go to next story.
Dawn: Welcome! This is Year In Review
Special Edition 2017!
DeafWake - Smartphones App for Deaf
A deaf English man, Steven Misfud, was
frustrated with lack of innovation
around smartphones. He travels for his
job to provide accessibility training
and was late one morning because his
vibrating alarm didn't work. He was
embarrassed and wanted to find a
solution. He create the DeafWake app on
the iPhone which flashes the camera,
screen and vibrates to alert the user.
Thinking only few people would be
interested in his app, he was surprised
that his demonstration video had been
shared over 500 times, and comments in
an email interview with WorldSign Week,
"perhaps I was not alone in wishing
that developers would consider
developing for deaf people"
-Now, let's go to next story.
Alessio: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
Travelers Create Deaf Space On Indian Train
Trains in India are usually packed
tight, Deaf people can't even sign! Now
Deaf people found a way to create Deaf
Space on trains and socialize. A
section on the train in Mumbai called
"HC" (handicapped) are being used by
Deaf people. HC is less crowded as it
can be used only by disabled people.
-When the first Deaf person gets in HC,
the person holds space for other Deaf
people, and sends texts to let them
know which HC they are in. Deaf people
drink their coffee, socialize and get
caught up on news with each other in
the HC which essentially becomes a Deaf
club - they travel while socializing
at the same time - meet old friends
and make new friends!
-Now, let's go to next story.
Dawn: Welcome! This is Year In Review
Special Edition 2017!
Deaflympics Summer Games in Turkey
The Deaflympics Summer Games were held
in Samsun, Turkey last July marking the
23rd time for the Deaflympics Summer
Games. Athletes competed in 21 summer sports.
-The Russian Federation with 335
athletes came in first place with 80
gold medals, 50 silver medals and 51
bronze medals earning total of 181
points. Ukraine came in second with 89
points. South Korea came in
third with 34 points.
-Now, let's go to next story.
Alessio: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
'Hurricane Interpreters' Go Viral
When hurricanes hit United States and
its territories, emergency protocols
require public officials to arrange for
sign language or Certified Deaf
Interpreters to appear next to people
at podium giving weather press
briefings. Videos with these 'hurricane
interpreters' went viral around the world.
-Sam Harris, a Certified Deaf
interpreter, during Hurricane Irma
press conference ended up with 331,085
views on YouTube for his expressive
signing style! Lydia Callis who stood
next to New York City mayor Bloomberg
during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 got
238,356 views on YouTube. Jason
Hurdich, a Certified Deaf Interpreter
(CDI), became a "sign-star" during
Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Marshall
Greene was labeled as "fake
interpreter" for signing "Pizza,
Monsters Bears" during Hurricane Irma
and was mocked by others on
YouTube, got 785,529 views
-Their viral fame brought attention
from media. Callis appeared on Cable
News Network (CNN). "Saturday Night
Live", an American TV comedy program
did a spoof of her. Harris appeared as
a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, an
American talk show which showed him
interpreting for Jimmy Kimmel.
-Now, let's go to next story.
Dawn: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special 2017!
Attack on Computers Worldwide
Computer users found their screens
frozen when a malicious virus worked
through central servers, encrypted
files, and demanded ransom to decrypt
these files. This happened in May when
the virus, known as the "WannaCry
ransomware", wreaked havoc on the
National Health Service In Britain,
Telefonica in Spain, and many computers
in Russia, the Ukraine, and Taiwan. The
ransomware demanded payments of $300 in
Bitcoin cryptocurrency before users
could access their files.
-The ransomware would hide in Word
documents, PDFs, and other files
transmitted by emails or through
secondary viruses that left the
computers vulnerable to ransomware. The
WannaCry virus spread quickly through a
vulnerability in the Windows operating
system. Users who did not keep updating
their operating systems caused their
computers to become vulnerable to
this WannaCry ransomware.
-Now, let's go to next story.
Alessio: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
Grenfell Tower in London on Fire
In June, Londoners were shocked to see
Grenfell Tower, a high-rise apartment
building, on fire. Over 200
firefighters battled the inferno and
rescued people trapped in the fire.
People witnessed tragedies - families
throwing their babies and small
children out of windows in hope of them
being caught by bystanders. The fire
was finally brought under control 24
hours later. A count of 71 people
died, including a stillborn when its
mother escaped the fire.
-Following hearings in September and
October, police and fire safety
services determined the fire started
accidentally in a fridge-freezer on the
fourth floor, and quickly accelerated
through the shoddy exterior cladding.
The conclusion was not a surprise as
had residents complained of safety and
quality issues of the building. As one
resident said: "I'm lucky to be alive.
I consider this mass murder." Building
regulations and fire safety
procedures are being reviewed.
-Now, let's go to next story.
Dawn: Welcome! This is Year In
Review Special Edition 2017!
Hurricanes in Northern America and Caribbean
Three major Atlantic hurricanes -
Harvey, Irma, and Maria - hit the
shores of islands and the state of
Texas, a state in the United States
this fall. Hurricane Harvey hammered
the city of Houston in Texas with heavy
rains and wind reaching 209 km/h. In
the aftermath, high floods forced
residents to climb unto roofs of their
homes for safety. It was mostly the
flooding, not Harvey, that damaged the
city. Hurricane Irma, a category 5
cyclone, then hit the Florida Keys
and the Caribbean islands.
-Barbuda was most devastated by
Hurricane Irma, becoming uninhabitable
with 95% of homes and institutions
completely flattened. Puerto Rico, a
U.S. territory, was next when Hurricane
Maria whipped the country leaving many
Puerto Ricans without power, food, and
shelter. It was not the hurricane that
devastated the people, but U.S.
president Donald Trump's lack of
assistance that left them
to fend for themselves.
-Thank you for watching WorldSign Week,
visit H3WORLD.TV for more shows,
all in International Sign.
See you next week.
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