Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for Friday, January 24, 2020.
As we explore topics of all subject matters we aim to seek out the heroes of the story. We know that whatever the situation it’s possible to find the people doing good over those doing harm. These are the heroes of the news, and they’re the ones in our headlines and at the forefront of our coverage.
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NewsHero Notes
Today is International Education Day, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as an annual day to honor education. Human Rights Watch is reminding governments that “if they are to fulfill their promises, they have only 10 years left to end discrimination in children’s access to education.”
You are what you read.
Where you get your news may play a central role in your opinions of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. A study released today by the Pew Research Center says how people feel about impeachment is linked to their regular news intake. This seems like a good spot to point out that NewsHero is a fine resource for the open-minded. (If we used emojis there’d be a winky face here.)
Afternoon Brief
World
Muslim religious leaders and members of a U.S. Jewish group together visited the site of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp on Thursday, four days before the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. Thursday was also International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Environment
In a move that many environmental activists and conservationists fear will expose millions of acres of wetlands to pollution or destruction, the Trump administration Thursday finalized a rule scrapping environmental protections for streams, wetlands, and groundwater. This is the largest rollback of the Clean Water Act since it was passed in 1972, and even some of the EPA’s own advisers warned against the new rule.
Health
As the Chinese city of Wuhan rushes to complete a new hospital within six days to treat coronavirus patients, at least 26 people across the country have died from the illness. Meanwhile, Beijing has canceled celebrations scheduled for the Chinese New Year, and the U.S. has its second confirmed coronavirus case.
UN Court Orders Prevention Of Rohingya Genocide
ICJ rules Myanmar must protect Muslim minority
Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, fourth from right, reads the ruling. The panel said Myanmar must take steps to protect the Muslim minority, who “remain extremely vulnerable” after a brutal 2017 crackdown by the military. Peter Dejong/AP
The International Court of Justice in The Hague Thursday ordered Myanmar to prevent a genocide of the Southeast Asian country’s Rohingya Muslims. The decision is the first international court ruling against Myanmar over the brutal treatment of the Rohingya minority in an army crackdown that killed tens of thousands.
The court said Myanmar must “take all measures within its power to prevent…killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
Photo: IFRC Bangladesh.
Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said the UN court “is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable.” The opinion of the 17-judge panel was unanimous. The decision comes despite Myanmar leader Aun San Suu Kyi defending her country against the accusations of genocide last month.
A statement released by Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was “important for Myanmar that Court [ICJ] reaches a factually correct decision on the merits of the case,” and condemned human rights groups for presenting a “distorted picture.” While acknowledging “war crimes had occurred,” the statement said, “there has been no genocide.”
Extra! Extra!
For the record, we don’t think you need a degree to do a lot of things, including trying to find solutions to combat the planet’s climate crisis, and neither does teen activist Greta Thunberg. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin recently criticized Thunberg’s thoughts on American fossil fuel investments. “After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us,” Mnuchin quipped. (And here would be the eye roll emoji.) Thunberg responded with a tweet clearly pointed at Mnuchin, proving once again she can both take it and dish it.
Sources:
Education Day Deadline: Daily Brief - Human Rights Watch
International Day of Education, 24 January - UN
Study links impeachment beliefs to regular news diets - AP News
AP's coverage of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp - AP News
Islamic Leaders Make ‘Groundbreaking’ Trip To Auschwitz - AP News
Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands - New York Times
Trump rolls back US water pollution controls - BBC News
Trump erodes water protections: 6 things to know - Politico
Wuhan, China, is scrambling to build a hospital in just 6 days to treat coronavirus patients as its health system gets overwhelmed - Business Insider
Beijing cancelled Chinese New Year celebrations - BBC News
CDC confirms second US case of coronavirus and is monitoring dozens of other potential cases - CNBC
Myanmar Must Prevent Genocide Of Rohingya, U.N. Court Rules - NPR
U.N. Court Orders Myanmar to Protect Rohingya Muslims - New York Times
After ICJ ruling, Myanmar denies genocide against Rohingya - Al Jazeera
Court Orders Myanmar To Prevent Rohingya Genocide: Daily Brief - Human Rights Watch
Climate experts agree: "Steve Mnuchin should go back to college" — not Greta Thunberg - Salon
Mnuchin says Greta Thunberg can explain US economic policy after she studies economics in college - CNN