December 14, 2021
By Morgan Kikke
There is so much going on in the world right now that it’s hard to pick one topic for an article. So, here’s some news from around the world.
In Africa, South Sudan is drowning during this rain season. But their dry season keeps getting drier and drier. People have to swim and force their way down the street, or some fortunate people have canoes to glide across. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only bad thing happening in Southern Africa. South Africa is also experiencing COVID variant surges, between Delta and Omicron. Many events had to be canceled and everyone went back to quarantine.
In Asia, Indonesia experienced a very serious volcanic eruption, caused by heavy rain. Mount Semeru caused 30 people to be killed and many went missing, thousands of buildings were destroyed, and many villages were covered in ash. In Tokyo, Japan, a same-sex marriage plan was approved and will be in effect in April 2022. The only other Asian country to allow this is Taiwan, which shows how much of a big announcement this is for Asia.
Australia will be joining the boycott of the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing, China, because of human rights abuses by the Chinese government. They will send athletes to compete in the games, but not have any official representatives. For the Christmas holidays, some borders have been open. Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria have opened their borders after a decline in COVID-19 cases.
In Canada, conversion therapy has been banned after the Prime Minister calls it “despicable and degrading.” Malta is the only other country to completely ban conversion therapy. But, the US and Germany have banned some of its practices. In the US, 2 El Salvador officials were sanctioned for negotiating with gangs. These gangs provided political support and spread their campaign.
In Europe, the first nationwide vaccine mandate was announced in Austria. Since only 19% of Europeans were convinced to get the COVID-19 vaccine, they had to make it mandatory. There was a protest with over 230,000 people against the new mandate in Belgium. In Ravanusa, Italy, several buildings collapsed after a gas leak exploded. Unfortunately, 3 people have died and 6 are still missing. But 2 people have been saved. Keep the people affected by this in your prayers.
In Chile, Congress voted to make same-sex marriage legal. The notion was first presented in 2017, but wasn’t approved until this year. In sadder news, Colombian police were responsible for 11 deaths during a protest in a United Nations-backed investigation. It was an anti-brutality protest in September, and 25 people were killed.