Mall shooting in South Carolina

On April 16th 2022, ten people were shot and two others were injured, when there was a sudden eruption of gunfire in a mall in Columbia, South Carolina. Fortunately, the gunshot victims faced no critical condition. And the two others that were injured, were due to the stampeding crowd as customers heard gunfire and were attempting to flee the scene. Chief Holbrook of the Columbia Police Department stated that there were 3 individuals that possessed guns, and believed that there was at least one who had fired their weapon. The chief also stated that this event wasn’t random, indicating that there could’ve been a conflict that resulted in the eruption of gunfire. 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Now or Never 

Estimating, that in 10 years, the world will surpass the level of warming that the earth can endure. It was stated in a report by the UN last Monday, that this is a ‘code red for humanity.’ The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, called that climate change is heavily influenced by man-made causes. The report stated that the earth will reach the 1.5-degree-Celsius warming mark in the 2030s, and this increase in warming can cause catastrophic consequences. Such as, ‘accelerating sea-level rise, worsening extremes of heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms.’ And this continuous warming of the earth can be blamed on the emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Solutions and negotiations to better the situation will be taken place in November in Scotland to discuss the ‘crucial international climate negotiations.’ 

Source: AP News

'I had thought my house was safe'

Currently, there are ongoing rescue operations to save the lost lives caused by the floods in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. More than 40,000 people have been affected by these floods, with 13,500 properties being damaged along the way. Which has now left numerous individuals homeless without any resources to support themselves. During these floods, around 400 people have died and due to the continuous search for the lost individuals, it’s possible that these numbers could increase. Neighboring communities can’t be reached due to the destruction of power supplies and roads. There have been some residents appointing the blame onto the government for the lack of maintenance on infrastructure or for the lack of proper water systems.

Source: BBC

Political Commentary 

Mass Shooting on a Brooklyn Subway 

On April 12th a Brooklyn Subway car became the site of a mass shooting. Not long after 8 AM, a man on one of the subway cars at King's Highway put on a gas mask and filled the car with smoke before opening fire. The man used a handgun to fire 33 times, shooting 10 people but killing none. Later in the day Pennsylvania resident Frank James was listed as a person of interest in the police investigation and was labelled as a suspect the next day. 24 hours after the shooting, James turned himself in and was charged with a terror-related offence at the federal level. 

Liberal Point of View

The shooting in Brooklyn was a tragedy. Luckily no one was killed, but people in other mass shootings usually aren’t so fortunate. Every time someone dies as a result of a shooting— especially a mass shooting— we’re reminded of the severity of gun violence in the United States. Children are being shot in their schools, people at nightclubs and concerts are shot while having fun, and unsuspecting people are killed in the streets— all because people have guns who should not.

Conservative Point of view

On Tuesday, April 12 a man walked into the subway in Brooklyn wearing a construction helmet and a gas mask(Closson et al.). He proceeded to ignite two gas grenades and then shoot over 3 dozen rounds into the subway resulting in ten people directly injured by the gunfire and thirteen others injured due to the chaos of the scene (Closson et al.).The man has been identified as Frank James, age 62, and he has been taken into custody. He has been labelled a terrorist and is facing life in prison if convicted of his charges (Chapman et al.) Authorities have not found any links between Mr James and any terrorist organizations(Chapman et al.).

This opens the conversation to the cause of the attack. Mr James had consistently shown signs of mental illness prior to this incident. Mental illness has long been an underserved aspect of health and it was this issue that ultimately led to this horrible event. Mr James had a YouTube channel under the name “prophetoftruth88”, where he frequently posted videos with violently toned diatribes (Berman et al). After his experience with New York city health professionals, he stated on his YouTube channel, “they made me worse…they made me dangerous.”(Chapman et al.).This leads to the question of whether mental health professionals properly aided him. If these professionals had seen the depth of Mr James' mental illness and his propensity towards violence, they should have taken steps to survey him and get him the help he needed rather than exacerbate the problem. It is not known where he obtained the gas bombs, but the gun used in the incident had been purchased 11 years ago likely before these mental health issues plagued Mr James (Hays et al). It was not a lack of gun control that led to the incident; instead, the Brooklyn shooting was the result of an improperly treated mental health crisis.

The evidence of Mr James' mental instability was further proven in his behaviour following the incident. After the shooting Mr James was found walking down the street in the east village, an extremely popular and populated neighbourhood in Manhattan, and went into police custody without resistance(Felton et al.).Mr. James’ attorney has even stated that he himself contacted crime stoppers to alert them to his whereabouts after realizing he was the subject of a manhunt (Hays et al). This does not sound like the actions of a rational man but one who was suffering from a mental health crisis. His attorney has even requested that Mr James receive mental health services while awaiting trial in jail (Hays et al). In the coming months, further information about the events that led to Mr James' appalling acts are likely to come to light and likely a lack of availability and effectiveness of mental health services will be found to be a major contributing factor to this incident.

Startups 

Creatively 

Creatively; a platform that aspires to be the LinkedIn of the creative world. Creatively is a startup that provides a platform for job offers that are designed for businesses to ‘reflect their corporate images by building specific brand pages and postings.’ Creatively’s aim is to assist artistic portfolios to acquire jobs through their platform, as it can be difficult to discover artistically aimed jobs on traditional platforms. Since its release in May 2020, there have been over 275,000 creatives and 2,000 brands lie Nickelodeon and Discovery that utilizes the platform to have their own brand page. Since its launch, Creatively has raised $19 million as they were funded by investors such as Thirty Five Ventures, The Tornante Company and etc. The unique factor of Creatively is that it also allows brands to find creatives, in comparison to only allowing creatives to find their dream brands. 

Economy

• Biden has shifted away from climate protections in an effort to lower gas prices, announcing the US Environmental Protection Agency would be lifting its ban on a gas blend known as "E15", which has contributed to smog during warmer months in the past. Gas prices are of course surging following severe sanctions against Russian gas a result of the war in Ukraine, with the reported average in March resting at $4.32 per gallon. (Source: New York Times)

• Sri Lanka has been going through an economic crisis since 2019 which has only worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war. The nation's Ministry of Finance released a statement saying they will not be able to pay out their foreign loans, and is scheduled to start on a loan program with an international commerce group. This follows a rise of mass protests across the country reacting to food shortages, soaring costs of living, and power cut-offs. (Source: BBC News)

• American billionaire Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter Inc. Musk, the world's richest person, offered $43 billion of his stunning $273.6 billion to the company, which said its board of directors would consider the bid. He currently holds 9% of the company already, and threatened to sell his shares if Twitter refuses his offer. In turn, the company has taken a legal action referred to as a "poison pill" that prevents Musk from seriously raising his shares in Twitter. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

The Global Snapshot in association with Stedu Association

Stedu Association is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in South Korea - aiming to provide FREE STEM opportunities for middle and high school students. Stedu Association is hosting its first-ever Startup Summer Camp after a series of successful summer, fall, and winter courses with lecturers from the University of Pennsylvania, Oxford, Dartmouth, Columbia College, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Kings College London, and more…

Impacted over 300+ students only in 2021 in 14 different time zones around the world. If you are a parent of a student or a student, definitely recommend Stedu Association Startup Summer Camp - a 100% free international summer camp hosted via zoom.

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