The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 25

February 17, 201 5 | nsucurrent.nova.edu News March 9, 20 1 | n suc rrent.nova.e 2 3301 College Avenue Don Taft University Center, PVA Room 328 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796 nsucurrent.nova.edu NEWSROOM Phone: 954-262-8455 nsunews@nova.edu The Current serves Nova Southeastern University from its location in Room 328 of the Don Taft University Center. The Current is NSU’s established vehicle for student reporting, opinion and the arts. All community members are invited to contribute. Editorials, commentaries and advertisements in this publication reflect the opin- ions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University or its officials, The Current staff or other advertisers. The Current will not publish unsigned letters except under special circumstances at the dis- cretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The Current reserves the right to edit. Contributing writers must not be directly involved with their coverage. Coverage by contributing writers must be meaningful and of interest to the NSU community. The Current reserves the right to edit, publish or deny submitted works as it sees fit. The Current shall remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility or otherwise cre- ate a bias, real or perceived. Megan Fitzgerald Rey Perez Evan Kelley Nyla Wyte Neha Simon Briana Ramnauth Ana Maria Soto Blake Malick Tomas Salom Santiago D. Finochietto Aliyah Gomez Veronica Richard J. L. Glasthal Aaron Kurzweil Faculty Advisor mf821@nova.edu Jarrod Bailey Staff Advisor jbailey1@nova.edu Sofia Gallus Siena Berardi Madelyn Rinka Alexander Martinie Rick Esner Christina McLaughlin Flor Ana Mireles Sports Editor Features Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor Co-Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor-in-Chief Opinions Editor News Editor Copy Editor Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Chief of Visual Design Emma Heineman BUSINESS & ADVERTISING Phone: 954-262-8461 thecurrentad@nova.edu SpaceX ship falls apart after seemingly successful landing A rocketship owned and operated by SpaceX burst into flames on March 3 after a seemingly successful landing in Texas. The rocketship was a prototype Starship, and the first of three prototypes to land successfully after flying about six miles up in altitude. While the rocket ship landed successfully, which was the goal of the mission, the unmanned prototype burst into flames and pieces of debris began flying away from it. While it is unknown why the rocketship fell apart after landing, the successful landing marked an important step to SpaceX’s goal to one day operate a fully reusable and heavy duty rocketship. The company is counting the mission as an overall success. Texas and Mississippi lift mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions Texas Gov., Republican Greg Abbott, lifted the state’s mask mandate on March 2 and many business guidelines pertaining to COVID-19, including capacity limits and social distancing rules. He declared the state “100% open” in a social media post after the announcement was made. A few hours later, Mississippi joined Texas in throwing out their mask mandate statewide. While some cities and businesses in the states still require masks, mask wearing has already decreased significantly throughout both states the days following the announcement. While many civilians are relieved they no longer have to wear masks, others are worried about opening completely without more vaccinations being given. San Diego Zoo gives experimental vaccine to resident apes The San Diego Zoo is the first location to attempt to vaccinate an animal. Several great apes at the zoo were vaccinated against COVID-19 by an experimental veterinary vaccine made by Zoetis. The zoo was concerned about its animals, specifically its human-relatives, after an outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in their gorilla Global news, courtesy of The Current Youtube removes channels run by Myanmar’s military On Friday, the popular video-sharing platform Youtube announced that it had removed five channels runbyMyanmar’smilitaryamidongoing violence after a coup last month. Myanmar has been facing mass protests demanding an end to its military rule and the release of their detained elected leaders. This decision comes about a week after Facebook banned all pages run by Myanmar’s armed forces. The channels taken down include the state network and the military- owned Myawaddy Media. In addition, Google, which shares a parent company with Youtube, blocked 34 Youtube channels linked to the country following Myanmar’s general election in December. Pope Francis calls for an end to violence on first trip to Iraq Pope Francis made his first international trip since the start of the pandemic on Friday, March 5. This is the first papal visit to Iraq by the pontiff, stating that Iraq’s dwindinling Christian community should have more prominent roles as citizens with full rights, freedoms and responsibilities. Pope Francis also met with Iraq’s most revered Shia Muslim cleric in hopes of fostering interreligious dialogue between the two. 10,000 Iraqi Security Forces personnel were deployed to protect the Pope, with curfews being enforced to limit the spread of COVID-19. While the Pope has had both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, along with his entourage, there are still fears the trip could become a super-spreader due to the expected large crowds. Berlin Film Festival awards first gender- neutral prize to Maren Eggert Last Monday kicked off the start of the Berlin Film Festival, which awarded Maren Eggert, a German actress, with its first gender-neutral acting prize. This new award was announced by the festival last August with the intention that both actors and actressescouldcompeteinthesamecategory.Eggert won for her performance as a museum researcher in the film “I’m Your Man.” This decision by the Berlin Film Festival could have an effect on other film award ceremonies, such as the Oscars. The idea of gender-neutral awards has been previously welcomed by stars such as Cate Blanchett andTilda Swinton, sparking heated debate. Popular Italian dictionary urged to change sexist definition of ‘woman’ As of Friday, 100 high-profile figures signed a letter to the Treccani, a leading online Italian dictionary, to change its definition of the word woman. The campaign around the changed definition argues that the list of synonyms contain derogatory terms that reinforce misogynistic stereotypes: the synonyms given in Treccani’s definition for the word include 30 terms used to describe sex workers. Treccani has not yet responded. population, marking the first known group of animals besides humans to have an outbreak. All of the gorillas are in recovery. While scientists prioritized the great apes due to their endangered status, four orangutans and five bonobos were also given the experimental vaccine. One of the orangutans given the vaccine at the San Diego Zoo was also the first orangutan in the world to receive open heart surgery. The zoo has reported that none of the animals have had adverse effects to the vaccine so far, and soon, they will be testing for antibodies to see if the vaccine was successful. Stay up to date with national events.