Tag: Current Events

On Sunday, August 5, and magnitude 7.0 (on the Richter Scale) hit the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok, also damaging buildings on the island of Bali. Both islands are located on the Ring of Fire, and area in the Pacific of increased volcanic and seismic activity. The death count is currently at 91 and expected to rise.

A tsunami warning was originally issued but revoked. The would-be “tsunami” ended up 6 inches high. The aftershock of the quake was magnitude 5.6. These came one week after an earthquake in the same location.

Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy gave Catalonia (an area of Spain that recently declared independence) five days to explain itself and shunned any idea of mediation or compromise. He also threatened to use Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution giving the central government complete control over any rebellious areas. The Catalonian leader says he will “delay the effects of independence” for discussion with Rajoy and the central Spanish government.

One civilian was killed a two police officers injured in a crash through a brick wall in a parking lot in front of a Little Rock bar on October 7, 2017. The young man (in his mid-twenties) had been fired at by the police. He then rammed into them and into the wall, where he died.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un wants more nuclear bombs in, quantity and range, to be able to be a “powerful deterrent” to the US.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation have put a tax increase on car, gasoline, and diesel purchases on the 2018 and possibly 2019 ballot for citizen voters. Governor Asa Hutchinson will “vigorously oppose” the motion and many believe his support will be necessary. The 10-cent (approximately) increase would be put toward highway improvement. Polls don’t show voters against it.

On September 25, 2017, North Korea announced they might shoot down any US warplanes they can, even if it wasn’t in their airspace. They consider the US to have declared war on the country with his many comments. One of the main ones they point to is that “North Korean leadership won’t be around much longer.” This also came after a group of US military planes flew farther over the demilitarized zone border between the North and South Korea than any missions in this century.

The United States opposes the North Korean nuclear program which is on track to put the US in it’s range. South Korea has pledged to back the US in any verbal or physical conflict. China “wants things to calm down.”

Vice President of the United States Mike Pence has traveled to South America to try and calm down the governments of the continent after President of the United States Donald Trump said that US military intervention in Venezuela is “still an option.”

 

US officials said that, though Trump said that the military is ready to start a war, conflict was still avoidable in North Korea. They said they are still conducting a “diplomatic effort” to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.