Month: April 2017

The song “Gangnam Style” completely took the American audience by surprised when it became extremely popular in 2012. Shortly after its release it was played on popular radio stations and ranked as the most watched music video on Youtube of all time. Now, 5 years later, the video has accumulated over 2 billion views, and keeps rising every day.

Most people would think of the song as a one hit wonder, since then no Korean artist has made it to the mainstream popularity that PSY obtained, however, ever since “Gangnam Style” became popular, the Korean pop industry has only boomed and expanded to include the far Western hemisphere into their fan base.

Some Korean pop (K-pop) music groups are ranking up the top charts all around the world, including Billboard and Itunes in the United States. This is the case of Bangtan Boys, better known as BTS, whose albums ‘Wings’ and ‘You Never Walk Alone’ made it to rank 61 and 26 respectively on the Billboard 200 chart.

In March, BTS came to the United States to finish the Western leg of their world tour, which began on February 18^th in South Korea. Per the groups agency, BigHit Entertainment, the group sold about 60,000 tickets, and sold out all their shows.

The modern concept of K-pop is composed by girl and boy groups made of anywhere from 3 to 17 individuals whom are trained in singing, rapping and dancing and are assigned certain roles within their groups. The first group to follow this concept debuted in 1996 under the name H.O.T (High Five of Teenagers), composed by five young men and managed by SM Entertainment, one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea. The group became extremely popular with their new combinations of dancing, rapping and singing among young Korean girls but disbanded before it could make an impact on the West.

 

The Hallyu Wave(한류) is the name that was given to the increase global popularity in South Korean entertainment culture in the West. Although hard to trace exact groups that boosted the music’s popularity, famous singers and actors like Shinhwa, BoA, Big Bang, Girl’s Generation, Super Junior and TVXQ in the early and mid-2000s are some of the most internationally famous groups that helped the industry grow to what it is now.

Ecuadorians in New York Make Their Vote Count

 

QUEENS —The warm-sunny day made a more exciting experience for Ecuadorians who attended the Sunday event on Abril 2, 2017.  Thousands of Ecuadorians fill the Union of Students building at Queens College to vote, where they installed about 70 ballot boxes.

The two candidates Lenin Moreno, the former vice-president, and Guillermo Lasso, a former banker faced each other for the second time. Moreno was close to taste victory in the first presidential election on Feb 19, 2017. The 39 percent of votes in his favor and the 28.28 percent to Lasso led them for a second presidential runoff.

“I notice there are more people voting today,” said Cesar Quintero as he walked inside the building along with his wife and his son, following the crowd. “Is an important day and I think everybody needs to participate,” he added.

After the first election, both candidates have been rigorously campaigning, giving more interviews on TV, appearing more in social media and inviting citizens to follow them for a “change” and a “better democracy.”

“I vote for a change,” said Jose Gonzales a 54-year-old who has business in Ecuador and in New York. He said that he has been traveling there all the time, and he has experienced the corruption. “Ecuador is so bad now.” he said. That if the lift-wing Moreno wins “Ecuador will be like Venezuela,” referring to the movement that is happening in Caracas.

Lasso twitted,“This is a crucial day, this isn’t any election, here there’s a path; there’s a path to Venezuela or a path to democracy and freedom.”

On the other hand, Moreno wrote on his tweeter account, “I’m going to inaugurate the cleanest government in history. We will completely eradicate corruption. I count on you Ecuadorians!”

“I just want to get over with it,” Juan Delgado expressed his sentiment about the elections not wanting to tell who he voted for. “Both of them are liars. I don’t trust them” he add.

Meanwhile, there was a group of people in a corner, Lenin Moreno’s supporters. “Let’s go Moreno,” they shouted as they joked and laughed.

Should Moreno win, Ecuador’s reputation will continue for the next years  “as a bastion of the left in Latin America.” Should Lasso wins, Ecuador will take another path after many years under the leftists.

While exiting the building, Victor Tocachi, 32, enthusiastically answer, “I voted for Moreno!” Because “Ecuador has made a lot of progress. We have new hospitals, new roads and more jobs”. Tocachi said that the former president Rafael Correa was “the first good president” Ecuador has had in a long time.

Lasso has promised in his campaign to help people boost their small business and cut taxes, so that way there be more jobs. “We need someone   with that mentality,” said Raul a taxi driver who has business in Ecuador. “Who can help the poor to have their own business,” he said.

After the relentless battle between candidates, only one will be the winner.

 

 

The entrance to Henna Happiness at 6 Carver Street in Huntington New York.

Trudy Pellegrino is the owner of Henna Happiness for nine years. She started Henna Happiness after 10 years of working art-fairs and wanting to start her own business. Henna is her passion. When speaking about it, she started to tear up, “I don’t know what I would do without henna,” Pellegrino said.

Pellegrino was first introduced to henna art in 1997 at a craft booth at the “New Life Expo” in New York City. “I saw someone at the payphone wearing henna and I was like ‘well that’s cool.’” She tells me that this moment was meant to be, like divine intervention. After seeing the henna she went to find the henna booth, but it wasn’t what she was expecting. “These blonde ladies from Connecticut were doing the henna, pretty funny right?” said Pellegrino.

Pellegrino’s shop is decorated with products including crystals, jewelry and tapestries that she has hand picked from all over the country.

The giant dream catchers come from an artist in Washington DC said Pellegrino.

Pellegrino admits that when she first discovered henna she thought that she had to be Indian to do them. Born and raised in Huntington New York, she pursued henna anyway and now feels like a “messenger for henna” because when she started doing them 20 years ago it “wasn’t as popular as it is today.” She attributes much of the popularization to the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Instagram.

Jordan O’callaghan, 13, is getting her first henna done “just because” on what she called a “girls morning” with her mom.

Most of the clientele here are younger women Pellegrino says. She does traditional wedding henna but also gets a lot of her business from clients seeking temporary scar cover-ups. But there are a wide variety of clients and reasons to get henna, including maternity hennas.

Kim Sudima, 36, gets a maternity henna for her fourth pregnancy. This is the second maternity henna Sudima has gotten. “It’s a way to honor the pregnancy, it only takes an hour or so, and we (her and her friends) go out to dinner afterward – make a day out of it.”

 

 

 

500 measles outbreaks were reported in Europe in January 2017 according to the World Health Organization. This is concerning because there has been steady progress towards elimination of the disease and 500 outbreaks in a month is a big setback. This creates a larger problem because with people traveling to Europe and being exposed to the disease, it could spread and be brought back to people’s home countries. Currently, the most major outbreaks are in Romania and Italy. Italy has seen a sharp increase in cases, with 238 reported in January 2017. The WHO regional director of Europe urged all countries to take urgent measures to prevent the spread of measles.

In the press briefing, only three sentences were said about the outbreaks and then the speaker referred everyone to the WHO website for more information. The speaker simply mentioned that the issue was present, without going into detail. If a reporter were to do a story on the issue, they would need to use other sources. The WHO website was helpful, with much more information and statistics.

http://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2017/measles-outbreaks-across-europe-threaten-progress-towards-elimination

http://www.euronews.com/2017/04/03/romania-and-italy-told-to-take-urgent-action-on-measles-outbreak

 

According to the Boston Globe, an article written by Steve Wembi and Dan Bilefsky, two United Nations officials and Congolese citizens disappeared in a conflict region of Congo. Michael Sharp (American) and Zahida Katalan (Swede) travelled to Kasai on Sunday with a driver and 3 Congolese drivers. The UN stated on Monday that they are doing everything in their power to try and locate them. Officers that are a part of the peacekeeping mission in Congo had travelled to Kasai to inspect possible human rights violations after reports of officials killed about a dozen civilians and children. Recently, there were videos of government soldiers walking on the streets and shooting people.

 
On Tuesday night, Antonio Guterres confirmed the deaths of United Nations researchers. He is pushing the Congolese authorities to do a full investigation of the murder. He also asked the government to search for the four missing Congolese citizens that were with his two colleagues. Michael Sharp and Zahida Katalan bodies were discovered on a shallow grave in central Congo. In the UN trip on Friday, a journalist brought the question of their deaths up. Below are the links to the details about their work, collaborations with locals, their colleague speaking out, and their life in the UN.

Resources:

Boston Globe Article/NY Times

Bloomberg Article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-28/congo-government-says-2-bodies-may-be-missing-un-researchers

New York Times Article:

In the press briefing on Friday, March 31, there was an announcement about the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s decision to take over the legislative powers of the National Assembly. What’s interesting about this decision is the underlying implication of corruption in the government of Venezuela.

The Supreme Court is mainly composed of supporters of Nicolas Maduro, the current President. The Assembly is mainly composed of the opposition to the President. The National Assembly was also stripped of their immunity as well. This could possibly spiral into a dictator-type government without the actual name because the opposing “powers” will not really have power at all.

The decision was overturned on April 1, but initially it caused concern. The High Comissioner for Human Rights felt that this move would be detrimental to human rights because it goes against the idea of democracy since there wouldn’t be any real checks and balances.

In addition to the political drama, Venezuela is already under a lot of stress because the country has been under economic and social crisis since Maduro has come into power. There has been violence,inflation, and a shortage of goods, causing protests that continue to this day.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Venezuelan_constitutional

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Media.aspx

Megan Guard

In the midst of a growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq the Secretary General of the UN arrived in Baghdad last Thursday (March 31) due to fighting against the Islamic State Group in Mosul. According to Fox News World dozens of civilians were killed by air strikes in Mosul. Since last October more than 350,000 people have fled fighting caused by the start of the Mosul military operation.

Secretary General offered support to Iraq in the fight against the Islamic state and supported continued aid to the 3 million Iraqi’s displaced by the fight, according to ABC news. Guterres met with Iraq’s president, prime minister, and parliament speaker during his trip. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman reported that,
The Secretary General told the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) “to remain in close contact with the community to ensure that there is sufficient support for those Yazidis who had escaped Daesh control, especially women and girls.”

I think the spokesman comments were newsworthy enough to quote in an article because I think it is important to highlight the depth of the Secretary General’s first meetings in Iraq for civilian relief. “The Secretary-General also appealed for more support for the reconciliation efforts at the community and national levels that will be needed once the liberation of Mosul has been completed,” said Farhan Haq.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/30/un-secretary-general-starts-official-visit-to-iraq.amp.html

https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/wireStory/secretary-general-starts-official-visit-iraq-46460903

Last week at a press briefing, Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien spoke about the continuing tensions and fatalities in Syria, saying that “thousands of people have been killed and millions more injured over the six years of fighting in Syria.”

According to an article in the Economic Times by AFP in December of 2016, the war in Syria had killed more than 312,000 people since the war began in March 2011. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Monitor, of the 312,000 , over 90,000 are civilians.

O’Brien says he “remains extremely concerned about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the besieged parts of eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus, where some 400,000 people are trapped by Government forces.”

Besides the constant casualties and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that hospitals and health care centers are not in service, stating that “all three public hospitals and 17 public health centres in eastern Ghouta are non-functioning and inaccessible to the population.”

On Twitter, the Syrian Network posted on April 2nd that in March 2017, a total of 1,134 civilians were killed, adding to the disturbingly high number of deaths that have taken place during this war that has now reached its sixth year.

Besides the horrible deaths and suffering of innocent civilians, the United States Embassy also revealed on Twitter on March 31st that the Syrian government is not only standing back and neglecting to help their citizens, but they are also stopping aide from reaching their population:

“Despite calls to allow #HumanitarianAccess, Syrian regime & its backers continue to block aid delivery, including food & medical supplies.”

They also released a statement on March 31 from the United States Mission to the United Nations, giving updates on the situation in Syria.

“Half of all Syrians are displaced from their homes, some living in the ruins of bombed out buildings and other fleeing as refugees to neighboring countries… Despite multiple calls to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to reach these people, the Syrian regime and its backers continue to block aid delivery, including desperately needed food and medical supplies. When it is not attacking civilians with bullets and barrel bombs, the regime uses red tape and bureaucracy to delay and hinder access. As a result, countless numbers of people have died.”

Also in the meeting, officials spoke about the urgency that should be surrounding the topic of aide to Syria, both in aspects of food and medical services, but refuge. Security Council at the UN, High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said “to meet the resettlement challenge, we not only need additional places, but also need to accelerate the implementation of existing pledges.”

 

 

 

On an early Thursday morning, March 30, Venezuelans were alerted to the news that their supreme court has stripped the powers of National Assembly and claim it for their own.

With the National Assembly dissolved and taken over by Supreme Court which is loyal to President, there is no longer political opposition. The Venezuelan government is completely ruled by one political party.

According to The New York Times, the Supreme Court said that the National Assembly were “in a situation of contempt” and during that time, the Supreme Court would step in, to “ensure that parliamentary powers were exercised directly by this chamber, or by the body that the chamber chooses.”

With the motion put into effect, it wasn’t long until the National Assembly and the Venezuelan citizens spoke out against the decision made by the Venezuelan Supreme Court.

According to CNN, Citizens, outraged, are out in the streets protesting while prominent opposition leaders are already calling the government of President Nicolás Maduro “a dictatorship.”

Venezuela’s Supreme Court takes power from Legislature https://t.co/1ocyTl4Gis pic.twitter.com/uJkOIMTPI9

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) March 30, 2017

National Assembly President Julio Borges said on Thursday, “What this ruling means is that, for the first time, Nicolás Maduro has all the power to enact laws, assign contracts, incur foreign debt and persecute fellow Venezuelans.”

At the United Nations press briefing the day after, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the High Commissioner for Human Rights made it clear that he was against the actions of the Venezuelan supreme court.

“I strongly urge the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision. The separation of powers is essential for democracy to function, and keeping democratic spaces open is essential to ensure human rights are protected,” Zeid said.

Zeid also made sure it was clear that this ruling not only undermines democracy, but it also undermines the human rights of Venezuelan citizens who had voted in the National Assembly themselves.

“Continued restrictions on the freedoms of movement, association, expression and peaceful protest are not only deeply worrying but counter-productive in an extremely polarised country suffering economic and social crises,” Zeid said.

Along with the UN, the U.S. State Department also spoke out against the actions of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, says Reuters. “This rupture of democratic and constitutional norms greatly damages Venezuela’s democratic institutions and denies the Venezuelan people the right to shape their country’s future through their elected representatives,” State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

While addressing the Venezuelan people about the actions of the Supreme Court and their president, Borges showed how much he really thought by ripping up the ruling into multiple pieces.

 

UPDATE:

As of recently the Venezuelan Supreme Court has let go of legislative power and has reinstated it to the National Assembly. This is after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called to annul the ruling to ‘maintain balance of powers.’

Venezuela's Supreme Court reverses ruling to strip Congress of its legislative powers https://t.co/mUKND9HREs pic.twitter.com/91K1fuFN5m

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 1, 2017

Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Cucuta on the Venezuela-Colombia border, said: “Maduro was trying to cast himself as a statesman, trying to resolve a power conflict in the country, but the opposition says he was just rolling back after there were so many protests inside the country and internationally for a decision that was seen as crossing a line and changing the constitution.”

 

One of the topics that the spokesman talked about in the press conference on Monday was the case of the two missing researchers who went missing in DR Congo about two weeks ago. The UN launched an investigation and, the day that we went to the press release their bodieshad been found but were not confirmed to be the two missing experts. It was latter confirmed that they were in fact Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan.

It seems that the two researchers had gone into a central area of the Congo to investigate the fighting between the army and the rebels there. This kind of strategy had been done before by both of the researchers, Sharp being the one with more experience in the area and the investigation. However, it seems that the reason for their death is the fact that their jobs did consist on finding criminal and reporting them to the UN.

The New York Times made a kind of obituary and news piece of the finding of their bodies. The Al Jazeera piece is more like hard news and explains a little about previous conflict in the area, and then Bloomberg seems to have just used an algorhythm to make a very short very to the fact news piece.

In general I did not think that the spokesperson said anything newsworthy to quote, in fact, I would actually mention the fact that he didn’t comment on some questions or just restated what he had previously said. I was suprised at how good he was at avoiding questions.