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kdancer

ISIS Just 3 Miles Away From Syrian Capital Building - 0 views

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    ISIS has laid siege to the capital of Syria, and controls the area just miles away from where the president sits.
fcastro2

UN plan to relocate Syrian refugees in northern Europe | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • “orderly relocation” of thousands of Syrian refugees from southern Europe to richer countries in the north, and is pressing the EU to agree to a year-long pilot programme
  • the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has approached senior EU figures to get backing for its pilot programme
  • new approaches, which could be achieved within the existing Dublin framework, were urgently needed:
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  • is a radical departure from current EU policy, which forces asylum seekers to apply for asylum in their first country of entry, under legislation known as the Dublin law.
  • We need to convince them that it is better to go legally, that there is an alternative to months of suffering
  • More than 3 million people are estimated to have fled the country in the past four years, and although the vast majority have remained in neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan – thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe.
  • Most of those who survive the Mediterranean crossing – and more than 3,000 died last year – end up in Italy and Greece
  • 42,000 Syrians ended up in Italy in 2014 alone
  • apply for asylum in their country of arrival. But only a tiny minority do. In practice, many migrants simply slip through the net and move, vulnerably, around Europe.
  • Syrians who chose to move irregularly across Europe could be reduced if people were allowed to legally travel onwards to join family or move to countries where they have language skills or work opportunities
  • Syrian conflict has exacerbated a refugee crisis in north Africa and the Middle East
  • The proposed relocation, which would start as a one-year pilot programme, would focus only on Syrians who have been recognised as refugees in Italy and Greece and would depend on an initial voluntary commitment from member states
  • previous attempts to reform the Dublin law have been met with fierce resistance during internal EU discussions
  • UK and other northern European countries have fought in both domestic and European courts to defend the right to return asylum seekers to their first country of entry
  • arguing that protection and accommodation conditions in Italy and Greece are inadequate
  • stressed the importance of states upholding the Dublin regulation
  • the commission is discussing with the member states on how to ensure a more balanced distribution of resettled refugees among all member states. We wil
  • Cochetel acknowledged that only a significant interest in building a new system would create a change in behaviour among desperate migrants
  • Last month Turkey become the largest country of asylum in the world
  • massive irregular secondary movements feeding trafficking, leading to human suffering and exploitation
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    The European Union is having some issues with Syrian refugees not staying in the country to where they first applied for asylum. This, and the ever growing number of Syrian refugees in Europe, has lead to a call to reform the Dublin Law. 
mcooka

Jordan - Educational System-overview - Students, School, Schools, and Secondary - State... - 0 views

  • The present structure of the Jordanian educational system comprises formal and nonformal systems
  • A compulsory stage for children ages 6 to 15 (grades 1-10), consisting of primary school (grades 1-6) and preparatory school (grades 7-10).
  • A comprehensive secondary education (academic and vocational) and applied secondary education (training centers and apprenticeship).
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  • Higher education, either a two-year intermediate level course offered by community colleges or four years of university level courses, either in public or private institutions. The student's achievement on the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination is the sole criterion for admission into higher education institutes.
  • Under this system, students in grades 4 through 10 may repeat a grade twice. After that they are automatically promoted. In the preparatory stage, grade repetition is allowed only once. At the secondary level, students are allowed to repeat once in a government school provided they are younger than 17; otherwise they must transfer to a private school.
  • Community colleges and universities vary in required attendance from two years in community colleges to six or more in universities based on the type of institution and specialization
  • he majority of students are enrolled in schools directly controlled by the MOE. Some schools fall under the jurisdiction of the cultural bureau of the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Health oversees students studying for medical careers; it established the first nursing school in 1953-54.
  • Instruction is in Arabic, but English is introduced in public schools in the fifth grade and is widely used. A new policy was recently approved to start teaching English in the first grade beginning in the academic year 2001-02
  • The school year runs for 210 days from September to June.
  • All public schools and most private ones use the same textbooks. Under Law 16 of 1964, the School Curricula and Textbooks Division of the MOE is responsible for producing and printing the textbooks. They are distributed free of charge during the compulsory stage, but there is a nominal fee at the secondary stage.
  • Jordanian public schools are single sex schools.
  • In 1997, however, only 16 percent of students were attending two shift schools and 11 percent went to rented buildings.
  • As a whole, education in Jordan is considered an investment in the future. Skilled citizens are necessary. Before the Gulf War, most graduates could find good jobs in the oil-rich countries, and the money they sent home helped the Jordanian economy to grow. It is not uncommon for a family living at subsistence level to be able to send a child to a university (Abu-Zeinh).
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    This article goes into great depth about Jordan Educational systems. Things such as public vs private, which still use the same books, and single sex schools. It also talks about public and two-year junior college education system. 
blantonjack

How serious is the ISIL threat in Libya? - 1 views

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    The recent US air strike on a building in the western Libyan city of Sabrata, which killed more than 40 suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, highlights the growing expansion and danger of the group in Libya. Both ISIL and Gaddafi loyalists share the belief that the new political leaders in Libya are "agents of the West" brought to power by NATO. Sirte has become the first stronghold that ISIL totally controls outside of Iraq and Syria, and it is reportedly home to the group's strongest presence within Libya. For the Western powers to combat this, means many military airstrikes as well as working with Libyan forces to provide intelligence of the whereabouts of the ISIL powers
mwrightc

Beyond Syria and Iraq: ISIS is losing ground around the world - Vox - 0 views

  • They've driven ISIS out of parts of Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest city, building on advances in and around the city on Sunday.
  • lost up to 30 percent of its territory from its peak in August 2014
  • Many of ISIS's wilayat have stopped growing and begun shrinking. Some ISIS affiliates have been wiped out altogether.
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    Progress towards eliminating ISIS is being made in countries that is going unnoticed by the international media. ISIS has just been driven out of parts of Benghazi in addition to other regions around the world.
ysenia

The Iran nuclear framework deal: A definitive, research-based guide from Harv... - 0 views

  • However, in order to utilize the plutonium for a weapon, Iran would still have to build a reprocessing plant to be able to separate plutonium from spent fuel.
  • [I]t will reduce the risk of Iran getting a bomb better than any of the realistic alternatives. Iran has agreed to physical limits on its ability to produce weapons-grade materials that will assure a break-out timeline of roughly a year for the next 10 years, as well as additional restraints and verification measures to monitor compliance and detect cheating. If the U.S. rejects the deal and returns to sanctions, Iran is certain to return to what it was doing before the interim agreement: installing additional centrifuges, enriching uranium, increasing its stockpile of enriched material, developing more advanced centrifuges, and completing the Arak heavy water reactor. The agreement does not solve the problem, but it reduces the risk for now and buys substantial time to resolve the threat in the future.
    • ysenia
       
      reduces risk of future issues
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    Overview of the Nuclear Deal as well as the pros and cons. A more in-depth evaluation of facts about the program and the benefits of global intervention.
mcooka

Control and crucifixions: Life in Libya under IS - BBC News - 0 views

  • segregation
  • ress codes
  • establishment of a religious police
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  • from Tunisia, Iraq or Syria.
  • of retributions. We spoke to people who have been forced to leave the city, to escape Islamic State.
  • I blame regional countries for IS
  • My dad is a senior policeman and was getting threats in Sirte. Anyone who works with the police can be kidnapped or killed unless you join them
  • S was quite laid back at the start in terms of implementing their harsh interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. You get the feeling that they were focussing on building loyalty and allegiances from the tribal society of Sirte
  • It was only in August when Islamic codes of dress and behaviour began to be implemented more noticeably. It was also then when crucifixions and lashings began to be meted out to anyone convicted. These usually take place after Friday prayers.
mcooka

US$70 Million to Support Higher Education Reforms and Improved Job Prospects for Gradua... - 0 views

  • The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$70 million project to address the high levels of unemployment among university graduates in Tunisia.
  • he Tertiary Education for Employability Project will build on progress achieved in previous Bank projects in establishing quality assurance mechanisms and linking higher education institutions to the private sector
  • Tunisia has an impressive record in promoting access to education. University enrollment jumped from 8 percent in 1990 to 35 percent in 2011.
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    This article works on the ideas of Foreign Aid. The United States is giving foreign aid to improve the job prospects for graduate students in Tunisia. This would fall under the idea of Market Liberalism
eyadalhasan

Middle East investment in U.S. property rises as returns drag at home - 0 views

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    The boarded-up building sat vacant on a tattered block in San Francisco until a small New York developer and a Kuwaiti real estate partner snapped it up in April 2014, attracted by the proximity to Twitter Inc and other tech companies.
eyadalhasan

This solar company will power Middle East oil - 0 views

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    No, it's not using solar panels to power mansions in Palo Alto. It's using clean energy to pump oil ... in the Middle East, no less, the epicenter of the world's oil resources. GlassPoint Solar is building sophisticated mirrors in a desert in Oman to transform solar energy into steam, used in a popular kind of oil extraction.
mcooka

News & Broadcast - Education: Improving access and quality of education in Yemen - 0 views

  • For almost three decades, the International Development Association (IDA) has actively helped increase access to, and the quality of, educational services in Yemen. The main achievements are the expansion of the education system at all levels, which helped halve the illiteracy rate to 45 percent from 90 percent
  • This is particularly challenging given the country’s significant population growth and deep poverty
  • Fewer girls than boys enrol in school (particularly in rural areas), many tend to be over-age and most drop out before completing basic education.
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  • lack of female teachers is one of the factors resulting in low enrolment and retention of girls in schools, particularly in higher grades when parents tend to object to male teachers
  • The sector also suffers from a lack of efficiency and effectiveness in using limited financial resources and weak management capacity.
  • DA has provided assistance for development of all education system sub-sector
  • both building on the success of the Basic Education Expansion Project of 2001-2007
  • The Secondary Education Development and Girls Access Project provides a platform to address broader sector governance and management issues by bringing together the Ministries of Planning, Finance, Civil Service and Insurance and Local Officials to jointly sign a Protocol of Participation in this Project.
  • men is also part of the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI). FTI focuses on increasing access of children to primary education in line with the MDG target of achieving universal primary education, and its interventions target the most remote areas in the country where no other IDA project, government intervention or donor project has gone before
  • Increase in enrolment in primary education to 87 percent in 2008-09 from 68 percent in 1998-99.Gains in girls’ enrolment were even higher with an increase to 78% in 2008-09 from 49% in 1998-99, reducing by half the gap with male enrolment
  • The Education sector in Yemen is one of oldest and largest sectors of IDA investment in Yemen.
  • otal Bank financing for the five projects amounts to US$133 million, comprising Basic Education Development Project (US$68.66 million), Secondary Education Development and Girls Access project (US$20 million), Fast Track Initiative – Phase III (US$20 million), Second Vocational Training Project (US$ 15 million), and Second Higher Education Project (US$13 million).
  • he basic education sector in Yemen is characterized by a high degree of donor harmonization. Education receives a large share of the comparatively small amount of Official Development Assistance per capita recipient (just US$13 in 2006).
  • The Yemen Country Status Report set the stage for the development of a national vision for education. The national vision is to be developed in coordination with line ministries and aims to develop the foundations for a national education system that is linked to the labor market
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    This article is about the improvement of education in Yemen. Yemen is a very poor country with a large population growth. These programs have created platforms and finances to attract teachers, advocates for girls groups, advocates for education, and have pushed the literacy rate up towards 90%
mcooka

2015 Education Year: Challenges ahead | Yemen Times - 1 views

  • n Nov. 24, the prime minister declared 2015 “Education Year,” highlighting the need to improve the country’s educational system and its importance for Yemen’s future prosperity
  • An ominous reminder came just 20 days after the prime minister’s announcement, when an explosive-laden car detonated at a checkpoint in Rada’a, killing 16 girls who were passing on their way home from school. The tragedy provides some indication of the immense challenges facing government and Yemeni society if 2015 is really to be a year for education.
  • Speaking at a ceremony honoring the nation’s highest-achieving students for the 2013/14 school year,
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  • eeting these lofty goals will require a range of initiatives—repairing infrastructure and building new facilities, providing sufficient learning materials, narrowing teacher-student ratios, and addressing gender disparities—especially in rural areas, where underfunding and conflict have compounded the problems facing schools ther
  • Mohammad bin Mohammad, a school teacher in Erman Primary School in the Ans area of Dhamar governorate, which accommodates 110 children from first to sixth grade, says many of his students are forced to take their lessons sitting on the ground. “Students don’t study in proper classrooms. Let alone having enough labs, chairs or tables,” he said.
  • Addressing security concerns and providing necessary infrastructure are fundamental prerequisites, but staffing and improving access to education for girls remain high on the agenda.
  • Government expenditure on bonuses amounts to YR60 million ($279,000) for the current fiscal year, and is expected to reach 271,696 employees nationwide working in the education sector, according to the Ministry of Education.
  • In areas where female enrolment and retention in school is significantly lower than the national average, the government also offers conditional cash transfers to families to encourage them to allow their girls to attend school.
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    This article highlights some of the challenges with improving girls education. Yemen has very little resources so taking resources from one place and giving to another-is basically like taking from students sitting on the dirt and giving to students sitting on rocks. There is also high security concerns. Many religious sects don't believe women should receive education.  So girls and schools are being terrorized on the way to school. Some families don't believe the cash transfer is worth loosing children. 
eyadalhasan

More countries in the Middle East are cutting diplomatic ties with Iran - 0 views

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    More Middle Eastern countries are following Saudi Arabia and cutting ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia severed all diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday. "The move comes after Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, ransacking and setting fire to the building in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others on Saturday," Business Insider's Natasha Bertrand reports.
blantonjack

ISIS video suggests future terror attacks will target London, Berlin, Rome - 0 views

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    Islamic State has released a video suggesting it may carry out further attacks in the West, mentioning London, Berlin, and Rome as possible targets. The video features a member of the group stating in English that the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels should be seen as a "cautionary message" to nations fighting Islamic State. This video has video game portrayal of the buildings being destroyed which has Europe on high alert.
amarsha5

How long can Saudi Arabia afford Yemen war? - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East - 14 views

  • long history of political animosity; this is a history that continues until our present day.
    • joepouttu
       
      "However, as Saleh continued to kill, these countries had no choice but to issue a forceful declaration to show that they were not in favor of Saleh's relentless, murderous campaign to ignore a civil war in Yemen." pg 128
  • Yemen's treasury was burdened by the costs of unification such as paying for southern civil servants to move to the new capital, Sanaa, and paying interest on its massive debt. On top of its other economic challenges, Yemen was to absorb the shock of 800,000 returnees and their pressure on the already weak job market. With their return, the estimated $350 million a month in remittances
    • joepouttu
       
      "My father had decided to leave Eritrea and return to Yemen, his homeland, after long years of exile..." pg 110
  • Civil war broke out in the summer of 1994 in what could be interpreted as a symptom of economic failure.
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  • By 1995 the Yemeni government implemented a program of macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms with support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and reduced spending on defense and civil service and cut subsidies. The Yemeni economy started showing signs of recovery and stability.
  • Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, wrote in 2012 that “fiscal sustainability will be an issue” for Gulf Cooperation Council countries. In its 2012 regional economic outlook, the IMF recommended to “curtail current expenditures while protecting the poor” as a response to the risk of declining oil prices.
  • Policies to cut spending were unlikely to be introduced in a monarchy like Saudi Arabia, especially after the Arab Spring, where tax-paying citizens along with non-tax-paying Bahrainis and next-door Yemenis went out on the streets to claim their rights in shaping the policies that govern their daily lives. The risk of people demanding more political rights was growing and cutting spending was not the optimal strategy for the kingdom.
    • joepouttu
       
      "The students of Sanaa were unique, marching straight out onto the street from their classrooms and chanting, 'The people demand the fall of the President and the regime.'" pg 126
  • As the kingdom continued its generous fiscal policy by providing more benefits to its citizens in response to the people’s dissatisfaction with the economic and political situation, it ran a deficit of 3.4% of GDP in 2014 due to a fall in oil revenues.
  • The kingdom's economic reforms of raising gas and diesel prices, cutting fuel subsidies in half and supporting the introduction of a GCC-wide value-added tax might ease the pressure of sustaining a war for nine months and perhaps longer. These structural reforms were long overdue and their introduction at this time is revealing.
    • amarsha5
       
      CIG pg. 120 -> "We live in a world with many layers of linkages between countries. Nations will exchange goods and services through trade and will engage in cross-border investments from bank loans to setting up businesses. Each of these linkages can serve as a transmission mechanism in a time of crisis."
  • the political inclusion of the taxpaying citizen. It's a price the kingdom is now willing to pay, as we have seen Saudi women not only
  • and suffered an uprising fueled by anger at economic failure. The Saudi economy is trying to absorb
  • As they introduce revenue-collecting mechanisms, they should also reform mechanisms of capital transfer to the public to minimize the gap between the rich and the poor, as it is known that the poor are the most affected by tighter revenue-collecting policies. Otherwise, the Saudi war on Yemen will mark the beginning of an economic downturn that will surely spill over onto its political system in the long run.
    • joepouttu
       
      "So the young revolutionaries fight on, until all their demands are met and they are free to build their State: a state founded on social justice and equality between all citizens where Saleh's reign is just a page in the history books." pg 129
    • amarsha5
       
      CIG pg. 116 -> "Globalization, in the shape of freer trade and multinational investments, has been generally a force for good and economic prosperity. But it has also advanced, rather than harmed, social agendas"
    • ccfuentez
       
      But it became apparent that Saleh was not going to leave me to my own devices. He declared war in mid-1994, occupying the South and defeating the Socialist Party. Everything was finished, or so I believed. Its property stolen by the regime, the paper shut down, and once more I found myself broken, defeated and without hope. Worse, I was a known employee of the Socialist Party through my work at the paper. In the region where I lived agents for the regime had been hunting down and detaining anyone who had belonged to the Socialist Party or getting them fired from their jobs. Although I had not been a party member myself, just worked at a party newspaper, the regime made no distinction. My mother intervened, however, and hid me. She wouldn't let me out of the house. My mother always protects me.   (2013-12-31). Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution: Voices from Tunis to Damascus (p. 115). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 
    • atownen
       
      Civil War: in 1994 Jamal currently in high school, describes the times as a world, when the color of his skin would define him. The Civil War, "interpreted as a symptom of economic failure", was evident in the reading when Jamal described the lack of jobs as a college graduate, members of the socialist party were completely shut out when Saleh took the presidency, depriving hard workers the ability to integrate into the economy. 
    • ccfuentez
       
      CIG Ch. 4 -> in relation to international rulemaking on fiscal policy -> is international intervention needed to contain and reverse financial crises in countries, esp. when it comes to the human rights and economic equality of citizens
    • mcooka
       
      Relating to page 120 Sanaa could not find work after college. While his degree wasn't very fluid, he was unable to find work for about 5 years. He got into journalism which blacklisted him against the government. Now he is unemployed again. 
    • mcooka
       
      This paragraph, while not highlighted, is important to the idea of globalization and why the war is not stopping. There is a flow of revenue from these oil prices that Yemen is reliant on, but they are also competing with countries that produce higher amounts of oil. This would have happened during the time Sanaa was in College writing scathing articles
    • mcooka
       
       On page 113 around this time the author was working as a journalist for the newspaper. 
    • mcooka
       
      Related to page 129 Sanaa is still living in hiding and in poverty. The animosity keeps him in fear. 
    • csherro2
       
      Market liberalization outlook
    • csherro2
       
      When Saleh came to power he and the leader of the southern part of Yemen, Salem al-Beid, agreed to coesxist as leaders of Yemen.  WIthin weeks of this in play, Saleh began to try to make the south his and this created the civil war.  
    • csherro2
       
      Jamal notes that the standard of living in Yemen was decreasing gradually the longer Saleh stayed in power.  
    • csherro2
       
      People, including Jamal, were writing about the Saleh regime and how they were upset with them.  
    • csherro2
       
      When Saleh's son was coming into power, Jamal saw that Yemen was moving towards a monarchy, realizing that his and the country's future was in the hands of an unqualified person.  
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