News. Weekly Geopolitical events By Keating Smith, Staff Writer Africa: (Sierra Leone) National elections in West Africa’s Sierra Leone have been plagued with fraud, resulting in ten per cent of votes being set aside in the country’s tightly disputed election. This is the third ballot vote Sierra Leone has conducted since a decade of civil war in the 1990s, which killed more than 50,000 people. Latin & South America: (Argentina) Argentina will appeal against a US ruling ordering the country to pay $1.3 billion USD to foreign creditors holding bonds that it defaulted on over a decade ago. Argentina has until mid-December to reimburse the hedge funds, which shunned two exchanges of defaulted debt in 2005 and 2010. Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino vetoed the decision, calling it “illegitimate to pay [for] vulture funds.” Asia- Central & South: (Kazakhstan) Vladimir Kozlov, the leader of the Alga party in Kazakhstan, has been accused of plotting to overthrow the government and faces Fasting for fundraising Douglas students partici- pate in 30-Hour Famine By Dylan Hackett, News Editor his Friday, partici- pants in the Douglas College chapter of the 30 Hour Famine will be sleeping over in the DSU building at the New Westminster campus. The team of fundraising fasters will begin their day and a quarter of foodlessness at 12:30 p.m. staying over in DSU building room 100A until 6:30 p.m. Saturday. While the Famine is a World Vision charity event, this iteration of the event is entirely secular, with World Vision being picked as the fundraising recipient because of their high charity ratio and the fact that they provide all the pamphlets and promotional tools to participating groups. “This event is secular, we are using World Vision as they have all the resources already set-up and they made 4 it a lot simpler for us to proceed with our goals,” said Vladislav Evdaev, Famine organizer. “We are all students and most 66 of us have jobs and are volunteering as well, so any help is welcome. Also, World Vision has one of the best charity ratings with about 85 per cent of all funds raised going to the cause.” Organizers hope Photo courtesy of www.douglife.ca to raise $5,000 for World Vision causes against hunger and poverty worldwide, a goal Evdaev believes is reasonable. “Students who are unable to participate in the famine can help by donating money and raising awareness of the cause and getting other people to get involved and raise funds,” said seven and a half years in prison. The United States has criticized the ruling upheld by a court as an “apparent use of the criminal system to silence opposition voices.” Asia- Pacific: (Indonesia) Indonesia’s tobacco lobby has pressured the government to boycott the WHO’s Tobacco Summit taking place in South Korea this Month. Cigarette sales contribute to one-tenth of Indonesia’s GNP and a third of Indonesia’s 240 million people Evdaev. “Also, part of the cause is to get people to stop and think about the conditions that other people around the world are living in on a daily basis, and hopefully, even if they are unable to contribute or participate this time, the event will inspire them to get involved and help any cause they believe needs attention and help. One more idea I want to bring forth is that if every one of the 20,000 Douglas students would donate just a quarter that would add up to $5,000, which can go really far in Third World countries.” Along with rais- ing funds, the Famine Organizers hope to raise $5,000 for World Vision causes against hunger and poverty worldwide aims for participants to experience the hunger of poverty first-hand. “Fundraising was one of the goals of the Famine, with raising awareness and compas- sion being the other; I think sometimes we just population are reported tobacco users. Middle East: (Israel) In preparation for a ground assault on the embattled Gaza Strip, dozens of IDF reservists have inquired into their sperm being frozen through Cryopreservation by a non- profit organization based in Tel Aviv. The New Family Organization has asked the Israel Defense Forces to cooperate by advising soldiers about signing a biological will to which the IDF did not agree. don’t stop to think about different global issues and it is hard for us to place ourselves in other peoples’ shoes, or lack thereof, if we don’t even pause to think about them,” said Evdaev. “I really hope that partici- pants of the famine will go on to help and donate to those in need after the famine ends, as the starvation and poverty is an ongoing issue.” “T have never done the 30 Hour Famine before and feel that we in the developed Western world have the moral obligation to help those that are below the poverty line and are suffering as their basic needs such as water are not met,” explained Evdaev. “Individuals, kids in particular, are not in any way responsible or are in control for the fact that they were born into poverty. Even as students I believe we can spare a little bit of our money to help save someone’s life by giving them access to clean water and basic medications that can reduce suffering.”