By Aeden Evenson-McDermott

In the early hours of February 6th, the 7.8 magnitude quake occurred making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in the history of the region, and worldwide, while being the deadliest in years since the 1939 one.

Many aftershocks occurred after, with the deadliest one to be a 7.5 magnitude aftershock. The main concern of this is that despite the damage already caused, the aftershock occurs with quite a large force which also cripples buildings and poses great structural damages.

With one of the deadliest quakes to strike, it posed many humanitarian calls for aid and support from around the world.

With the event occurring in southern Turkey and northern Syria, it decimated large cities and made matters worse with the countries already experiencing a refugee crisis. Furthermore, it was an overall wide ranging event that would lead to an all out search and rescue with teams scouring through the rubble for many hours.

As of February 24, the death toll neared 49,000 according to the United Nations. With much of city’s and town’s infrastructures destroyed, it left many homeless and exposed to the elements in the night time.

Much of the rescue operations resulted in many of thousands saved from being pulled from the rubble but it left many stranded and in the evenings, folks had bonfires in order to stay warm.

As the quake spanded 200 miles, the desperation was wide ranging with Turkey declaring a national emergency for the near future; the health care system is crippled and overwhelmed with the influx of patients receiving aid. Syria is currently grappling with the recurring civil war, divisions within territories, and tense relations between president Bashar Al-Assad and much of the West.

The United Nations’ Secretary General, led by António Guterres, proposed near $400 million in aid to help with the humanitarian crisis in Syria as well.

With much work to do in both countries, it will take awhile until cities can try to be rebuilt and aid comes more free flowing to help with the devastating crisis of circumstances.

By: Aeden Evenson-McDermott

As the new year began and the world turned its focus to the up and coming 2023 calendar year, the ties between Croatia and Europe would be closer than ever before. Croatia has had EU membership since 2013. Various countries that are in the EU are not in the Schengen area and don’t use the euro.

A few examples to understand the complex system: Sweden is part of the Schengen area but doesn’t use euro as it still uses krona as its currency, and Ireland as an EU country isn’t Schengen. Thus, it prompts the question of how the EU, the Schengen area, and euro currency are intertwined? The EU and Schengen areas are separate components that do not imply the use of the euro currency.

Croatia, with a population of 4 million, got its independence in 1991 and the Balkan country got the green light into the EU in 2013. This major step for the country of Croatia has been celebrated in the deeper connection to Europe.

A bit of background on the Schengen zone; the zone spans in population of 420 million people, it allows for the goods, services, and people of countries to travel without restrictions in other Schengen countries. The less hassle of providing identity and travel documentation for customs allows for a bit more of easier travel.

The span that Schengen covers is 23 EU member countries along with four members of the European Free Trade Association.

Croatia, being the 27th country to join, also sets the bar for air travel check to expire in late March of this year.

The global use of euro also is prevalent, as it allows for a more stable currency to replace the current currency of the Croatian kuna which is less stable.

Some of the foreseeable benefits of joining include: it allows for more global trade partners and easier networking of shipments between countries, it also helps combat national inflation (which is key to keeping prices down), and with the more stable currency it allows for the markets to hopefully not exceed current prices. Additionally, the tourism industry, which currently makes up 20% of the country’s annual GDP, will also take off and recover from the pandemic with more incomes as well.

With getting the accession into Schengen and eurozone, there are many complex factors that allow for the official acceptance. Croatia needed a majority from both the European parliament and European Commission, along with all EU member states having unanimous agreement, which would allow for the official transition of Croatia.

With the voting from the European council, the results were as stated, with 543 MEPs in favor, 53 against, and 25 abstaining, which led to the Council having the final say in the big decision. The unanimous vote finally came in December of 2022, with the EU ministers of the council coming to a final consensus and confirming the vote.

There was a bit of resentment from the other regions of Romania and Bulgaria who were denied entry. The main cause of their denied entry was because of the corruption, and illegal migrations concerns, with the two countries.

As Croatia goes for the new milestone, it proves the EU is intact and remains focused despite the recent agressions from Russia in the war against Ukraine. It also deepens the connection with a more connected Europe with the most recent addition to the mix of Croatia.

As the Croatian prime minister, Andrej Plenković proclaimed, “Two strategic goals of a deeper EU integration”.

By: Brogan Frey

Almost 9 months ago, on February 24th, 2022, the country of Russia invaded its neighbor country, Ukraine, starting a war between the two countries. 

For a month or two, this war had captured the attention of the majority of people around the globe, but since then, the war has not been talked about nearly as much, except for in occasional discussions about the U.S. and how much aid it has provided, and how much more it should. 

Other than that, the war has pretty much fallen out of the global spotlight, letting daily news and other global issues fall back into their spots at the top of most news sites. 

Let’s quickly go over some of the major facts of the war that you may have missed in the past few months. 

This war has been called the biggest land war in Europe since World War II, claiming over 32,368 lives to date (according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry), and the number is almost definitely going to rise until the war comes to an end. 

Another hard to believe number is the 7.8 million refugees from the war. (Data accurate as of 11/15/22) This number, although already big, seems even bigger when you know that the population of Ukraine was around 43.8 million before the war, meaning that 1 in every 5.5 Ukrainian residents has at some point left Ukraine as a refugee. 

Although the war is still ongoing, nearly 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees have since returned to their home country. 

These 2 statistics have been changing constantly since the beginning of the war, but one recent event relating to the war has brought some of the attention back to the warring countries. 

According to the New York Times, the country of Poland said that a Russian-made missile was likely to blame for the deaths of two Polish citizens in an explosion near Poland’s border with Ukraine on Tuesday, November 15th. 

This is the first time a member of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has been directly hit during the 9 month long conflict, at the beginning of which Ukraine was considering joining for the protection from Russia. 

It is not known, at the time of this writing, who fired the missile, or where it came from, but it has been described by the Polish Foreign Ministry as “Russian-made.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have used Russian made munitions during the conflict, which is why no one has been quick to assume where it came from. 

Although the war has been long-lived and taxing, I believe that we need to pay more attention to it as it has had an impact on millions of lives, and can affect many more if this war turns out to last for months or years longer. 

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/world/europe/ukraine-russia-six-months.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/14/world/russia-ukraine-war-news-g20

By: Domingo Basso

The late Queen of England: Queen Elizabeth II, who was born on April 21, 1926, in Mayfair London, died September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. According to ‘The New York Times’ she died peacefully but the cause of her death was not specified due to the Royal Palace not disclosing that information. Despite that being true, a royal biographer claimed that the Queen was suffering from a bone condition and Lady Colin Campbell, a royal expert who has written about Princess Diana, went as far as to claim that the Queen had died from bone cancer. 

After the Queen passed away, her son, who was commonly known as “The Prince of Wales” became King Charles III, and now has the throne. Before becoming King, he already established over 20 charities and supported many different causes regarding the environment, rural communities, the construction, the arts, healthcare, and education.

But, now let’s move on to how the world is dealing with the loss of a figure as important as her Majesty. Sources such as ‘The Washington Post’ say that very soon after her death became known to the public, there were a quarter of a million people in line to see and pay their respects to the Queen once it became possible to do so. (that’s 250,000 people!) So many people wanted to pay their respects to her that there was a queue that grew so long that the queue time would reach up to 24 hours at a point. In fact, the queue grew so large that there had to be a line to get in the line to pay respects.

 The state funeral for the Queen happened at Westminster Abbey on Monday, the 19th of September, at 11am, and the funeral service was live-streamed on YouTube so that more people could be able to mourn her passing. To end the funeral service, there was 2 minutes of silence followed by the national anthem, to bring it to a close. 

So, the death of Queen Elizabeth II impacted a LOT of people around the world, and especially the citizens of the United Kingdom due to her rule having lasted decades. Her impact was massive due to how the UK runs to this day. So, we can only hope for the best for the citizens of the United Kingdom with the loss of somebody very important to all of them. And we can also hope that their newest ruler, the King, may be able to live up to the name of his late predecessor.

For more information visit: 

• https://7news.com.au/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-ii/royal-biographer-claims-queen-died-from-a-bone-condition-c-8230995
• https://www.royal.uk/the-king
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/20/queen-elizabeth-coffin-queue-size/

By: Mila Hart

On June 23, 2018, a soccer team made up of twelve boys aged eleven to sixteen and their twenty five year old coach, became trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the Chiangmai Rai province in northern Thailand.

In mid July, the caves close because they flood due to the monsoon season. The boys entered the cave on June 23 thinking that they would not be at risk of getting trapped by rising waters.

It was not uncommon for the local kids to play and visit the cave when it wasn’t monsoon season. The boys thought they had more time before that season would begin, but they were unfortunately mistaken.

They became stranded in the caves after a sudden and continuous downpour blocked all exits. The rain would only get worse and worse because it was the beginning of the monsoon season. This means that if they did not find the boys as soon as possible then there would be no hope of getting them out.

After being missing for ten days, British divers found the missing boys perched on a rocky ledge. After being located the boys were joined by Thai navy seals and received food, water, blankets, and minor medical aid.

Once the boys were found, they had to act fast to get them out of the cave. Monsoon season would soon be hitting at full force and even though they’re were many engineers and volunteers working on pumping water out of the cave it would not be enough to stop the water from rising at extreme speeds.

The cave is a twisting, turning six mile complex of narrow passages. The boys were trapped two and a half miles into the cave, most of which was nearly completely underwater. When cave diving you are fully submerged in a narrow space and can’t see more than four inches in front of you because the water is dark and muddy. So, this meant that the only way to safely remove the boys was to sedate them so they wouldn’t panic, put them in special gear so they wouldn’t drown, and have them be guided out of the caves by professional cave divers.

Getting all of the boys out of the cave took three days. Three to four boys, plus their coach being removed from the cave each day. Once each of them made it out of the cave they were immediately put into ambulances and taken to the hospital.

All of the boys and the coach lived. The rescue effort involved over 100,000 people. These people were divers, many types of rescue workers, representatives from around 100 governmental agencies, police officers, and soldiers.

For more information, please see the documentary ‘The Rescue’ on Disney+

By: Carla Tizcareno

With all the commotion going on with Russia and Ukraine, there are lots of questions going around. It’s hard to watch such a major and damaging event unfold from afar, but there are many ways that you, or someone you know, can help.

Donations are an easy and accessible way to help Ukraine during this difficult time. Donating money or resources is an extremely helpful and important thing. The thing is, after or during major events such as this one, many scammers take advantage of it to get money. It’s important to always check the source of the donations, or where they are going. Always do your research before you give and if you can, you should report any suspicious activity with donating sites.

UNICEF is a great example of a trustworthy organization that you can donate to. It was made almost 70 years ago. Their mission is to aid children around the world with health, education, safe and clean water, and even HIV prevention. They now have a specific spot to donate to Ukraine. Here is the link to their Ukraine donation site:

• https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children

There is also UNHCR, which is an organization that focuses on helping people find refuge during dangerous events, like a war. On their website, there are multiple spots that lead to donating to Ukraine. Here is the link for their website:

• https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/

The International Committee of the Red Cross is a great spot to donate as well. They are trying to send help and assistance to war victims, or victims of other situations of violence. They are a Switzerland based organization that is also aiding the people in Afghanistan.

• https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/europe-central-asia/ukraine

There are many other organizations that can help as well. These are just some of the examples of great resources for donating to help the cause. Below are some others that are good too:

• http://www.voicesforchildren.org/
• https://www.msf.org/
• https://www.sunflowerofpeace.com/
• https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=31071&mfc_pref=T&31071.donation=form1&s_src=172220UCFM00&s_subsrc=FY22UkraineCrisisFundMO

By: Abi Hernandez Castillo & Thalia Pliego

There have been many questions relating to why Vladimir Putin is invading Ukraine, however, it’s no secret why he is invading the independent country of Ukraine. According to ‘Vox’, Putin says that Ukraine isn’t a “real” country and claims that Ukraine is “fiction” that was created by communist Russia. 

According to ‘India Today’, the beginning of the formation of Russia and Ukraine starts in 1654 when it first tried to unite Kievan Russia under one ruler. A treaty was signed in March of 1954 between Russia and Ukraine in which Ukraine became an autonomous country, but foreign and defense matters remained with the Russian regime. However, this system lasted until 1782 when Russia had merged Ukraine into itself. The treaty was only signed to not only save Ukraine but to also save Russia itself. 

The Russian Empire was afraid of the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth Empire and the Turkish Empire so Russia wanted to keep Ukraine close. When the Soviet Union broke up in the 1990s, Ukraine had the third-largest atomic arsenal in the world. The United States and Russia worked with Ukraine to denuclearize the country and eventually Kyik, Ukraine gave hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that would protect Ukraine from a possible Russian attack. In 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and these assurances were tested.

This brought the relationship between Russia and the West to a very low point. Now we know that Russia and Ukraine have a bad relationship but why invade now? According to ‘INSIDER’ Russia is concerned with NATOs eastward expansion. NATO is a political and military alliance that was first formed in 1949. Putin has criticized NATO for expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

As stated earlier, back in the 1990’s Ukraine had to be convinced to denuclearize the country and because of this Russia also feared that Ukraine had the knowledge and desire to obtain nuclear weapons, and this was a threat to Russia. Although it wasn’t proven that Ukraine had nuclear weapons ready to go to Russia, Putin still felt threatened. 

Currently, there have been many updates since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. According to ‘The New York Times’, the Russian shellings have blocked any efforts into creating safe exit corridors for civilians. There are many who are trapped due to blocked off corridors and are left without food, water, and medicine. The bombs that Russia has been dropping also destroyed a maternity hospital on Wednesday, March 9th. 

This war between Russia and Ukraine has not only impacted these two countries but as a result, the United States has also been affected economically. According to ‘The Wall Street Journal’, the inflation levels that are experienced on both sides of the Atlantic are levels that have not been seen in decades. Recently, there has been an increase in oil prices. Russia is one of the main providers of oil for Europe and due to the war, the oil may not be available for the United States to obtain, and to preserve what is left, the prices become higher. 

By: Toby Martin-Kohls

In an era such as now, geopolitics are becoming more and more important and in the spotlight. An easy example of current events is the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

China has, and does, use its money and resources to influence global politics.

What is global politics? The United Nations. The United Nations is an organization founded after WWII, and per their website: “The one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.” Each of the 193 member states has a representative that has a vote in any resolutions that are brought forward.

Today, only 15 countries recognize the Republic of China, which is also known as Taiwan. Both countries claim that they are the rightful owner of all of China. Since there can only be one representative per member state, the U.N. held a vote in 1971 to decide which country would be given a representative. At the time, the U.S. officially recognized Taiwan, so for the vote, it was essentially the United States’ sphere of influence against the world.

Now we can relate this back to Africa. China ended up winning the resolution vote, but what we are looking at is which African countries voted for who in 1971. The Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Liberia, Niger, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Ivory Coast all voted with the United States for Taiwan to represent both the mainland and the island at the United Nations.

Fast forward to 2007 and the U.N. is holding a vote on whether to condemn human rights violations in North Korea. North Korea has few allies, but China is a big supporter because they share some of the same values. Again, like the previous vote mentioned earlier, this time it was China’s sphere of influence against the world.

The only African countries that voted to condemn North Korea were: Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea: Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Burundi, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, and Tanzania. The rest of the 43 African countries voted with China or abstained.

This is a product of China using its power to build infrastructure in low developed African countries.

China’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has grown rapidly since the 1960s and 70s. It has made the shift from an industrializing country to an industrialized country.

Africa, however, has some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. In April 2021, Nasdaq predicted Libya to be the fastest growing economy of 2021.

In Africa, there are around 10,000 Chinese-owned businesses and construction companies worth over $2 trillion. In 2017, Chinese companies obtained roughly half of all engineering, construction, and procurement contracts on the African continent.

China has used its resources to foster relationships with the countries of Africa and make them allies. Given the current events of Ukraine and Russia, these decisions could make a difference in the years to come. Hopefully, China does not decide to forcefully take over Taiwan. Based on the relationships they’ve fostered in Africa, they could have access to any number of resources outside the country.