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While our eyes have been concentrating on textbooks and study guides (or staring aimlessly out the window), the world outside the finals bubble has still continued. Here are some highlights from the week you might have missed while locked up in a dimly-lit library cubby:
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Haiti
Most people recall the cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010, which affected hundreds of thousands of refugees in United Nations camps. Roughly 8,000 people died as a result of river water polluted with fecal matter, believed by cholera experts to be from sewage from Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers in the area. Prosecutors are now threatening to sue the U.N. for allegedly breaking international law and are demanding billions of dollars in compensation after the U.S. formerly declared itself exempt from such legal claims, as their involvement in the country was in good faith.
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Pakistan
Pakistan celebrated landmark elections as Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister for the third time after having previously been overthrown in a coup and exiled. Voters braved frequent terrorist attacks on candidates, rallies, and offices, with at least 130 deaths over the course of the campaign. Citizens voted to replace all former ministers of President Zardari in the Punjab province due to widespread political corruption. The largest issue of concern was fixing the frequent electricity outages throughout the country, which Sharif and his party have promised to prioritize in the upcoming term.
Israel
The government is issuing new guidelines to be adopted as soon as possible regarding ending gender segregation in public places, currently a common practice. Israel’s attorney general is advising ministers to adhere to new integration guidelines due to the unrest with women in public areas. In ultra-orthodox neighborhoods, women are currently required to sit in the back of bus lines, as well as abide by other separation measures from men, and the gender inequality has fueled many civil disobedience campaigns with strong support from Jews in other countries.
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Philippines
Having long been insulted as “the sick man of Asia,” the country is actually the fastest-growing economy after China with an increasing rating. The president, Benigno Aquino, wants to work to counter this negative image of the country, due to its high unemployment and poverty rates. Aquino’s objectives are to fight political corruption and reduce the amount of Filipino citizens working abroad to prove that the country’s economic success is not merely a “temporary aberration,” reports Bloomberg.
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Nigeria
An ethnic militia killed at least 20 police officers on May 8 in a village in central Nigeria. Officers were attempting to launch an attack to arrest the militia, which was forcing villagers to take a blood oath of loyalty. There has been increased militia violence near Nigeria’s central capital, Abuja, due to disputes over the nation’s oil wealth, particularly among Islamic extremists, who have been launching attacks throughout the Muslim-majority north. The extremist militias kill or kidnap civilians or conduct rituals like blood oaths to frighten locals into submission.
