Indigenous peoples fight for their rights. In Indonesia, a festival is celebrated with elaborate masks and costumes. In Germany, the country's defiant Chancellor seeks to rebuild her government after a tough election. It's Fiery Tuesday, our selection of societal and political news from across the globe! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

One might think of Indigenous Peoples' Day as just a hip U.S. replacement for Columbus Day, but in many places throughout the Americas it's taken quite seriously. In Chile a march in honor of the day (as well as in protest of continuing deprivation for the country's indigenous peoples) was disrupted by local police who arrested several of the demonstrators. The Santiago Times has more.

In many parts of the world, agriculture is still one of the primary means to earn a livelihood. And as the world moves from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming, that often means growing one crop in particular. For some people in Ethiopia, that's khat, a psychotropic plant traditionally consumed in the region but now exported worldwide.

October was a month for many holidays, from Indigenous Peoples' Day to Halloween but in Indonesia one that was celebrated was the Singo Barong Splendor Festival. If you haven't heard of it you might want to check it out: the effort that goes into the celebration is really something to behold.

Cryptocurrencies are best known in America for BitCoin, a controversial example that famously experienced massive deflation as people bought and hoarded it. But the cryptocurrency surge has spread elsewhere now, including Georgia. The Financial explains what's driving the "digital gold rush" and how it's affecting the Caucasian country.

Last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was elected to a fourth term. It was not, however, an easy battle and her party's majority has diminished, leading many in her party to call for her to switch tracks and embrace a more conservative method of governance to try and win back voters of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Merkel, however, has other plans.


Top image by Stevie Mann