Gunman in Pa. hospital
Five people were wounded and an officer was killed on Saturday, Feb. 22, due to a hospital shooting in York, Pa. Three of these people were hospital staff — a doctor, nurse and custodian, according to the Associated Press (AP). The gunman has been identified as Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, who had been at the hospital with another person earlier that week, for reasons currently unknown. A police officer, Andrew Duarte, was also killed in this incident while on duty. Archangel-Ortiz was killed in police efforts to prevent any more deaths.
Germany elects Friedrich Merz
Friedrich Merz won Germany’s election on Sunday, Feb. 23, following the collapse of the three-party system during Chancellor Olaf Schloz’s term. Merz, from Germany’s far-right party, Alternative for Germany, won with 28.5% of the vote — which is only the second time the winning party won with less than 30% of the vote, according to AP. Merz plans to form a coalition with the Social Democrats — Scholz’s party — to curb immigration and revive the declining economy.
Joy Reid fired from MSNBC
Joy Reid, MSNBC’s host of “The ReidOut,” has been fired from her position as of Monday, Feb. 24.
“Reid’s firing takes one of the most high-profile Black women off the network at a time when the Trump administration has made attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion policies,” NPR reported.
This news comes amid multiple other attacks on the jobs of people of color within MSNBC, as it canceled “The Katie Phang Show” and “José Díaz-Balart Reports” this past week.
Musk threatened to fire federal workers
Over the weekend, many federal agencies received messages from the Office of Personnel Management — following statements from Elon Musk — telling workers they needed to list their accomplishments from the last week in an email in order to keep their jobs.
Despite this, many federal agencies told their employees not to respond, creating uncertainty. However, on Monday, Feb. 24, Trump stated that this email is solely voluntary, yet went on to say “If you don’t answer like you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired because a lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist,” according to ABC News.
As of Monday evening, any federal employees who failed to respond to the first email will receive a second one that they must respond to, or they will be terminated, Elon Musk posted on X, according to The Hill.
Botswana diamond exports
After seven years of negotiations, Botswana’s government came to an agreement on Tuesday, Feb. 25 with the De Beers mining company on the export of diamonds.
Diamonds are the main export of Botswana, so the decreasing cost and demand of such have been causing economic hardship across the country for years.
However, the Botswana government came to a 10-year agreement, where they will now receive “a 30% share of Debswana’s sales up from 25% for the first five years and a 40% share for the following five years,” AP reported, with an option to extend the agreement by five years with the sales split 50-50.
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @jewllery_pursuer, Instagram
