[Tsiba]

Climate Protests Organized Across Tsiba
By Gichy Anderson | June 20, 2020

Members of the Ecology Party organized protests across Tsiba in support of ecological regulation today. Protesters also called for Tsiba to attend a global ecological summit. The largest protests were in Chavotsy and Davapu, with smaller protests in To’etsy, Bucha-Duchavo’a, and Chatoogu’u. Protests have remained peaceful in most parts of the country, although four protesters were arrested in Bucha-Duchavo’a for attempting to deface a municipal building.

Tsiba’s protests were some of many held across the IDU as part of a growing environmentalist movement in the region.

Eleanor Marie Butler, Leader of the Ecology Party and Second Representative of the City of Davapu, said in an interview that she “didn’t want to make temporary change, [she] wanted to save Tsiba from climate ruin.”

Butler and the Ministers of the Putsiba from the Ecology Party have presented a list of climate demands to the Duchavoputsy. They want the government to join and help organize an international climate conference, invest in low emission public transportation and energy, and provide economic incentives for Tsiba farmers attempting to reduce their climate footprints.

Members of the Green Party have already agreed to stand with the Ecology party. Pe'echavo Anderson, Leader of the Green Party and Representative 87 of Tsibitsy, said in a statement to the press that the Green Party would support any plans that helped the farmers and agricultural workers of Tsiba and that he, at this time, felt climate change to be an issue significantly impacting the agricultural interests of Tsiba.

Opinions are split within the Shooda-Tsiba and the Our Freedom Party. Taupe Pyvupi, of the Alliance for the People of Tsiba, has previously said that he is against climate legislation, and said in a statement that he wanted the government to do more to stop protests for the safety of the populace.

Prime Minister Mahshid Shi’upa is expected to make a statement later this week. Shi’upa has been observing the traditional Prime Minister’s two weeks of silence held from June 11 to June 25 each year in memory of the late Prime Minister Beshootsu Pyvupi. She will likely make her statement on Thursday when she addresses the Duchavoputsy.

[Tsiba]

Judge Kyne Joonitsihe Dead at 83
By Beshootsu Amari | June 22, 2020

Tsiba’s highest court, the Upitsu-matoo-na’ivoo, announced today that Judge Kyne Joonitsihe died in his sleep of a stroke on the night of June 21 or the morning of June 22. Judge Joonitsihe had served on the court for thirty-three years and was the last Pyvupi appointee actively serving.

Judge Joonitsihe was born in 1934 in the city of Tsyshaba, then known as Sashava, during the British colonial era. His father, Robert Joonitsihe, worked as a street cleaner and his mother, Ethel Anne Joonitsihe, worked as a nanny for a British family. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Behhapa University in 1952 and a J.D. in law from Kingfisher University in 1955. He served in local judgeships throughout the region of Chavotsy before being nominated and confirmed to the Uritsu-matoo-na’ivoo in 1987 by the late Prime Minister Beshootsu Pyvupi.

As a judge on the Upitsu-matoo-na’ivoo, Joonitsihe believed that the court’s job was to interfere in the work of the Duchavoputsy as little as possible. He voted to remove legislators from office only six times in the course of this career, and supported over three-quarters of all legislation that came before the Upitsu-matoo-na’ivoo.

With Joonitsihe’s death, Prime Minister Mahshid Shi’upa will have to nominate a new candidate for the court. Rumors are already circling about who will be chosen. Judge Helen Tsachi of Duchavo and Judge William Archer Godrej of Vi’atsy are both strong contenders for the opening, although Shi’upa is unlikely to make a comment on the subject until next week.

The Shooda-Tsiba, Shi’upa’s party, no longer controls the three-quarters majority necessary to confirm judges among the City Ministers, a challenge that could make the confirmation of a judge to fill Joonitsihe’s spot more difficult.

Judge Kyne Joonitsihe is survived by his wife Shana and their four children. His funeral will be held on Thursday at Behnam ga Chavotsy Memorial Cemetery in Chavotsy City. Mourners are invited to attend the public ceremony at three o’clock in the afternoon.