Week #11 Articles {January 25, '21}

Articles Written By Ananya Nayar and Misaki Tomiyama, Website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Articles for this week-

World News-

• Biden's Inauguration

• Updates on Trump's Impeachments

• Amazon Cities see a New Covid Wave

• Wuhan and Covid

Sports News

• Australia's streaks that have been ended by India

India News-

• Farmers Protests Continued

• Pune Vaccine Factory Catches Fire

Other Articles-

• What is "fake news?"

• This Day Signifies

Biden Inauguration

Article written by Misaki Tomiyama

Taking place in the U.S. Capitol, Democrat Joe Biden has officially inaugurated and sworn is as the 46th president of the United States. His inauguration took place on Wednesday, the 20th of January ‘21. After taking an oath from Chief Justice John Roberts, he mentioned: “Democracy has prevailed”. There was tight security in the U.S. Capitol, as there were protests in the previous week by pro-Trump protestors. After the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamal Harris, Kamala Harris became the first woman, and the first Asian-American person to become the vice president.

(A presidential inauguration is a formal ceremony to formally transition or sworn in the new president into office. The president-elect has to take the presidential oath of office.)

Donald Trump has not formally admitted the presidency of Joe Biden and did also not attend the inauguration- which made him the first outgoing president in 150 years to not attend the inauguration. Trump had not attended the inauguration but has left the White House last week. He had delivered a farewell ceremony prior to this, along with first lady Melania Trump and delivered remarks.

Amanda Gorman, ages 22 became the youngest poet to have performed at the United States presidential inauguration. She recited her poem “The Hill We Climb”. There were several musical performances in the inauguration ceremony, Lady Gaga sang the national anthem, and Jeniffer Lopez sang a medley of American musical selections including, and garth Brooks performed "Amazing Grace."

It is said that Joe Biden will have a hard job ahead of him, and he in fact has addressed the challenges he will face in his inaugural address; an ongoing pandemic, job losses, environmental issues, racial injustice and the political system.

A few hours after the inauguration, he began to undo some of the policies made by Trump. He has signed 15 executive orders to make his country’s response to the coronavirus better. Biden tweeted "There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face," The most significant policy he had undone was Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. He had rejoined the climate change accord which Trump had withdrawn from. He also made several other policies such as providing free testing and enforcing covid rules, raise the minimum wage and invest in green energy, criminal justice reform, working to restore America’s reputation etc.

Updates on Trump's Impeachments

Article written by Misaki Tomiyama

Trump has been impeached and was accused of inciting the violent protests in the U.S. Capitol. He was charged with "incitement of insurrection" after the storming of the congress. His impeachment trial is scheduled for next month, with the agreement between Senate Democrats and Republicans. (You can read more about his impeachment in the last week’s article- Week #10 Articles)

The trial will not begin until the 8th of February, allowing Trump’s lawyers to build a defence for two weeks.

His impeachment trial is going to begin almost exactly on the same day as his impeachment trial last year. Trump had already left the White House, and Biden has been inaugurated, but his impeachment trial will still take place.

American Senator, Mr Schumer has said- "The Senate will conduct a trial of the impeachment of Donald Trump. It will be a full trial. It will be a fair trial," The impeachment article will be passed to the upper chamber of Congress on Monday, today.

Amazon Cities see a New Covid Wave

Article by Ananya Nayar

Many cities within and near the Amazon river in Latin America like Manaus are struggling with the new, stealthy Corona Virus Variant. Hospitals and workers are overwhelmed with a rise in new cases and numbers of deaths and the health care system in the Amazon has now collapsed even more than before. Brazil now has the second-highest death toll in the world for Covid and the virus has now entered the forest, which is a potential threat to the remote tribes living there. The vaccine is being rolled out slowly, but the country remains harmed by the infection.

Covid cases appearing within tribes is threatening the indigenous people once again- they have been through deforestation, oil exploitation, mining, industrial farming and unlawful occupation of their ancestral territories, and now forest fires and the new Covid form will harm the 3 million isolated, native people of the Amazon rainforest. Many interviewees have said that “falling ill here (in the Amazon rainforest) is always scary, but now we’re more afraid than ever.”

The situation is a huge risk of being a real catastrophe, and a photographer also voiced that “if the virus gets into the forest, we don’t have a way to get help to them. Distances are huge, and the indigenous people will be abandoned.”

Citizens also announced displeasure towards the condition and quoted “I call that genocide- the elimination of an ethnic group and its culture” and that the Government was ‘taking advantage of this disease.’ A tribal leader also expressed resentment to the Government’s strategies and quoted that the President allegedly said that “Indians have to die, we have to finish them off.”

• Sign this petition and donate to protect the native South American’s from Covid. - Petition

Wuhan and Covid

Article by Misaki Tomiyama

The earliest known coronavirus cases is said to have been linked to the food market in Wuhan, and Wuhan is remembered as the place as the place where the first case and first covid death had occurred. Last week, Wuhan has celebrated it’s triumph for recovering from the covid 19 pandemic. Wuhan has also mentioned that the Coronavius pandemic has emerged from anywhere, anywhere but here.

Australia's streaks that have been ended by India

Article by Anay Bhadoria

- 16 consecutive Test wins - 2001 in Kolkata & 2008 in Perth

- First and only Asian side to win at WACA in 2008

- 19 consecutive ODI wins at home - 2016 in Sydney

- 32 years unbeaten at Gabba bw 1989 & 2020

an enthralling final Test in which India beat Australia with only three overs remaining in the final day's play after chasing down their third-highest total to win a Test.

India overhauled the 328-run target set by Australia courtesy Rishabh pant who scored an unbeatable 89 and half-centuries from Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara and resigned Australia to their first loss at The Gabba since 1988.

I India had earlier won the three-match T20I series 2-1 after having lost the ODI series by the same margin.

All series were played with players restricted to bio-bubbles and CA hailed the BCCI's "spirit of cooperation" amid "many public health and logistical challenges."

The letter went on to praise players including stand-in India captain Ajinkya Rahane, Man of the Series Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah, Steve Smith, and debutants Shubman Gill and Cameron Green.

Farmers Protests Continued

Article by Ananya Nayar

The Farmers Protests that began during late 2020 have entered 2021 with no certain pact as of now. The Government hopes to find a deal and agreement in time for Republic Day on the 26th of January. The eleventh round of discussions and negotiations among the farmer unions and central government commenced this week, and still, no deal has been reached, with farmer protest unions resorting to the previous debate stating that the Government must reconsider and abolish the laws that will hurt the farmers who are living in poverty by taking more of their income.

On the 22nd of January last week, Farmers decided to organise a tractor rally with unions from multiple states in North India. Protestors from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have moved towards Delhi to take part in a tractor rally there, against the wishes of the Government.

Pune Vaccine Factory Catches Fire

Article By Ananya Nayar

On Thursday, the 21st of January, a fire broke out and spread at a vaccine-maker Serum Institute in Pune, leaving five people dead. Few were trapped inside the building and were rescued, and it was reported that smoke made it very difficult to communicate and see.

It took firemen three hours to put out the fire, and the cause is still unknown and being investigated.

The facility had been made for the production of not only Covishield, but other vaccines too, and packaging was also done on the premises.

Did you know? 26th January 2021 is the Republic Day of India!

By Misaki Tomiyama

Republic day is celebrated every year in India to celebrate the day when the constitution of India came into place. Which was in 1950, and when the country became a republic. On Republic Day, we pay tribute to the brave soldiers who risked their lives for India. On this day, the prime minister visits the Red Fort to hoist the flag and gives an address, which is broadcasted nationwide. Most schools and businesses are closed, and people celebrate this day by flying kites and wearing the colours of India.

What is Fake News?

Article by Misaki Tomiyama

We all use social media and the Internet. We often go through a lot of research and information online, and many of us use the internet and rely on it as an incredible source of information. However, not everything written online is true. We refer to these fabricated or false news/information online as fake news. This problem of fake news has become an extremely significant problem in our current digital world.

Fake News is any news article or video that is fabricated but disguised as a credible source. Many of these fake news headlines are suspicious-looking, but some are not. Fake news has become an alarming issue nowadays, as many people tend to start believing these articles since they do not closely read them. Furthermore, social media has aggravated this problem. Many people post false information online, and through FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter etc, many people share the fake news, which then makes other people believe them too.

Know that we know why fake news is harmful, let’s take a look at why people write them anyway? There are two main reasons people write fake news. One is to gain popularity or views on social media by sharing fake news stories for entertainment purposes. Sometimes fake news is more dangerous- people have ulterior motives behind writing fake news. This can involve misleading and/or deceiving people and their opinions to their benefit. Examples of this can be political, such as propaganda. Other fake news can include news about health etc. The second reason people use fake news is to gain money by using clickbait. Sometimes, when there are more views or clicks on the internet, more money flows in as a result of advertisement revenues. Therefore, many people try to trick the viewers into clicking their site, so they could gain more views and clicks, consequently more money.

Social media only facilitates the spread of fake news as people can easily share and like fake news. This is because of human behaviour; the more outrageous and controversial the news is, the more interest is generated amongst the people. People would often prefer interesting fake news rather than real ones. Fake news doesn't always have to be completely fabricated, sometimes there are articles where the publishers exaggerate the news online so they could generate more interest amongst the people. They often use misleading and sensational headlines.

So, how do we figure out if an article online is fake? You will have to think critically about what you are reading. You could check the source of the story. If the website is recognizable or is an official website that is authorised, the information you are reading is correct. However, be careful as sometimes people pretend to be trustworthy websites when they are not. Also, don’t just read the headlines. Make sure you read the content as most fake news headlines are misleading and sensational. It would also be a good idea if you checked other sources. If no other website has mentioned whatever you have read in a particular article, then you should question its credibility.