Politics

News Politics

North Korea’s Kim Jong-il Dead

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The ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, passed away on Saturday.

He died, at age 69, of heart failure.

North Korea’s people know him as “Dear Leader.” They went into the streets to mourn his passing.

However, his death creates a lot of uncertainty about what will happen in North Korea.

Many world leaders are concerned about the situation there now.

One reason is that North Korea has nuclear weapons, so nearby countries like Japan and in particular South Korea, reportedly have their military on “high alert.”

Another reason for concern is that before his death, Kim passed control of the country to one of his sons, Kim Jong-un, who is in his 20s.

Kim Jong-un is largely unknown to other world leaders. In fact, until two years ago, the only picture the CIA had of him was as a student in short pants at a school he was attending in Switzerland.

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News Politics

Harper And Obama Agree On A New Border Plan

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Canada and the United States are working together to make it easier for people to travel across their common border.

This week, U.S. President Barack Obama and Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, agreed to a “cross-border plan” to make it easier and quicker for Canadians to travel to the U.S. It will also help companies in both countries to do business together.

Harper has agreed to a “common perimeter”–a type of border all around North America–so more careful checking can be done on who and what comes across the borders from Canada. Canada has also agreed to get more information about people when they come into Canada from other countries and to put in American-style bomb detection machines for checking luggage.

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News Politics

Gap Between Rich-Poor Growing: OECD

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Canada’s rich people are getting richer and the country’s poor people are getting poorer.

That’s because the gap — or distance — between the amount of money the richest and poorest people earn at their jobs is widening.

The richest Canadians earn 10 times more than the poorest.

That means if the average rich person earns about $100,000 a year, the poorest earns only about $10,000 for a whole year.

A new report by an international organization called the OECD* said the same thing has been happening in many countries including the United States.

It has been happening since the 1990s, before the new millennium.

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News Politics

Who Will Fill Jack Layton’s Shoes?

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The New Democratic Party (NDP) is going to elect a new leader.

The NDP is Canada’s official opposition party.

The leader of the NDP was Jack Layton. He passed away last August from cancer.

It will be hard to fill his shoes, because he was well respected and liked not just by members of his own party, but by Canadians across the country.

There are nine candidates vying to be leader of the NDP.

On Sunday night they held a leadership debate.

A debate is when candidates talk about the issues, and say why they think they’d make the best leader.

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Xenia Benivolski (l) and Stephanie Guthrie help two kids who have come to make a donation to help Attawapiskat. Image: Joyce Grant
Breaking News Politics

From Our Homes To Theirs – Responding To Attawapiskat

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When Xenia Benivolski heard about the problems in Attawapiskat, she wanted to do something to help.

The people in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat are living in terrible housing conditions, often without heat or running water.

Temperatures there drop to -20C at night.

The community has declared a “state of emergency.”

Benivolski set up a Facebook page, asking people to donate items to help the community.

“Then people started Tweeting it… and it just kind of snowballed,” says Stephanie Guthrie, a friend who is helping with the drive. “You see something (like this) happening and you just can’t not do anything.”

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News Politics

Arab Spring – What’s Happening Now? An Update

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Almost a year later, the effects of Arab Spring are still being felt.

Last December, the people of North Africa started what is being called “Arab Spring.”

Arab Spring refers to a series of uprisings by the people in a number of Arab countries.

The citizens rebelled when they could no longer put up with dictators and their cruelty.

They forced the President of Tunisia to flee to Saudi Arabia and the President of Egypt to quit his job and move away.

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News Politics

Occupy Toronto Protesters Peacefully Leave St. James Park

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For more than a month, the people of Occupy Toronto staged a peaceful protest on behalf of what they call “the 99 per cent.”

They built a tent village in St. James Park in downntown Toronto and camped there.

They set up a media centre, so TV news stations, newspapers and websites like Teaching Kids News could get information about them and their cause.

They used “social media” tools like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with each other.

This allowed them to talk to each other and let people know what was happening at all times.

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News Politics

Quebec Gets A New Political Party

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A brand new political party, the Coalition pour l’avenir du Quebec (Coalition for the Future of Quebec), was launched last Monday.

A coalition is a group of people, often from different backgrounds, with the same goals.

This makes six registered political parties in the Province of Quebec, where the Liberals are in power and the Bloc Quebecois is in second place.

The leader of the the new party is Francois Legault.

He is known to Quebecers as a separatist, someone who would like to see Quebec separate from Canada to become its own country.

But last week Legault spoke as though separation was not as important to him as it once was.

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News Politics

What’s Happening In Europe?

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A number of countries in Europe are having problems with their finances and their leaders.

This year, four prime ministers in Europe have quit their jobs or been forced out of office.

That’s because their countries have spent more money than they make and now they can’t pay their debts.

Some of the countries are making deals with other countries in Europe and the International Monetary Fund for a “bailout.”

A bailout is a loan to a country to keep it from going bankrupt.

The richer countries agree to put in more money to save the poorer countries.

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