The country created in 2011 to gain its independence from Sudan, is undergoing crucial attacks. “The killing of more than 50 people in a UN base in Bor and the gruesome massacres of hundreds of civilians in Bentiu shows that ethnically motivated brutality against civilians is spiraling out of control,” said Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN Security Council needs to act decisively to impress on the warring parties targeting civilians in South Sudan that they will pay the price for their crimes.”

The UN Security Council needs to impose sanctions in order to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Last week, a large group of unidentified armed men, some in security uniforms and others in civilian clothing attacked a UN base. The group began shooting aimlessly, killing 50 people and injuring many more. This attack highlights the need for essential protection of civilians in the base and around it.

“The Bor and Bentiu attacks should be a wake-up call and commanders and leaders responsible for abuses on both sides have been let off the hook for too long,” Bekele said. “Unless they are held accountable for their crimes, the ethnic violence will continue to engulf this young country, with UN peacekeepers left to pick up the pieces.” 

Having experienced Texas summers, I know the severity of the heat that can encompass the state. Well, the heat is so sweltering that it violates international human rights standards and has caused the deaths of 14 inmates since 2007. According to the Austin-based Human Rights Clinic of the University School of Law that, “the extreme temperatures in state-run facilities also breach the US constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments”.

Inside these Texas prisons, there are about 150,000 people who have to survive the heat. Most of these prisons do not have air conditioning, only the psychiatric and geriatric buildings do. As of recent, it is mandatory to install air conditioning in cells to keep temperatures below 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Until these standards are put into action, officials are screening and monitoring suffering prisoners and providing them with cool liquids and ice.

“We are convinced that Texas is breaking international human rights laws and US constitutional law,” he said. “We believe it’s a lack of political will from the authorities at the TDCJ, they refuse to acknowledge there’s a problem … There’s a belief that everybody suffers extreme heat in Texas and that is true. The difference is that I can be in my office and have air conditioning.”

In essence, I think that the state of Texas should take necessary precautions in order to prevent inmates from suffering heat related illness or even death in extreme temperatures. Everyone should have a right to something of this degree.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, three American medical workers were shot outside by an officer who was guarding the premise. Two of those killed were father and son. “The father, a senior pediatrician at the hospital, was at the gate to allow the others — his guests — into the building, Dalil told CNN Newsroom. That’s when the guard opened fire,” she said.  The father had worked as a pediatrician at the CURE hospital for seven years in downtown Kabul. The motive of the shooter was not clear, however there have been attacks on foreigners in recent weeks.

“With great sadness we confirm that three Americans were killed in the attack on CURE Hospital,” the embassy tweeted. “No other information will be released at this time.” CURE is a major non-profit organization that has patients that have life changing experiences without the ability to pay.

Two weeks ago, two Associated Press journalists were killed in eastern Afghanistan and an award-winning German photographer was shot a week later. Last month, a horrific bombing occurred leaving five militants and a young girl dead. In regards to the hospital shooting, it is so demeaning that when we as Americans are trying to help other civilians medically, and our thank you is essentially death.

This weekend, a 39-year-old woman, Megan Hunstman from Utah admitted to police that she either strangled or suffocated at least six babies immediately after she gave birth to them over a period of several years. Police found the remains of seven infants at Hunstman’s old home. During a recent interview, “Ms. Huntsman admitted that between 1996 and 2006, she gave birth to at least seven babies at the Pleasant Grove residence, and that all of the babies, but one, were born alive, and that she either strangled or suffocated the babies immediately after they were born.”

She then concealed the baby’s bodies inside boxes and placed them inside the garage of her home. Authorities were called to duty, when Hunstman’s estranged husband found a baby wrapped in a plastic bag in the garage. According to authorities, “Each baby was found wrapped in either a towel or a shirt, placed inside of a plastic bag, and each was contained in a separate cardboard box,” the statement read. A case like this sets the precedent for unethical behavior. It is simply illogical how a human being can create and produce a child, bring them into this world and have the audacity to harm them, let alone kill.

People are horrified by a bombing at a Nigeria bus station that killed at least 71 people and injured 124 yesterday. The Nigerian President blamed Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that has become a very big problem for Nigeria in the last few years. The group’s name means “Western Education is forbidden,” so you can see why they don’t have many friends. Their goal is to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state; if it turns out they were behind the attack, it would be seen as a scary sign that they might be gaining strength.

Monday’s bombing would represent a significant amplification of Boko Haram’s bloody campaign to undermine the Nigerian state. For the past two years, many attacks have occurred in the country’s northeastern areas, killing many civilians in the region’s towns and villages. This isn’t the first time militants have struck the capital before. In 2011, a series of Christmas bombings occurred, with the worst attacks taking place during a morning mass ceremony. What is most scarring is how Nigerian television showed images of rows of charred, bombed-out cards and buses after the blast along with bloodstained shreds of clothing, as some of the buses had been burned to their frames.

Three people were killed in two shootings at Jewish centers in Kansas Sunday, ironically the day before Passover. The shootings happened at a Jewish community center and a Jewish retirement home. The suspected 73-year-old shooter was arrested. He has been identified as a former Ku Klux Klan leader and reportedly has a history of anti-Semitism. The suspect known as Frazier Glenn Cross’s actions were a hate crime. According to CNN, “If the suspected shooter is charged and convicted of a hate crime, under federal law, the death penalty could be on the table. That would apply if the charge is that the defendant was motivated by the victims’ race, color, religion or national origin.”

It is just depressing that there are still hate crimes occurring in our nation on the Jewish race. With Passover this week, The Anti-Defamation League said that they warned civilians of the increased possibility of violent attacks against community centers in the upcoming weeks. Consequently, “which coincide both with the Passover holiday and Hitler’s birthday on April 20, a day around which in the United States has historically been marked by extremist acts of violence and terrorism.” With a major population of Jews in the United States, you would think that there would be no more hate crime. Well, unfortunately I think it will exist for eternity.

Violence obviously is not the answer. However, it seems that today more and more young adults are involved with viciousness more than ever. Yesterday, in Pennsylvania, a student went on a stabbing spree at his high school, creating mass chaos and havoc. The 16- year old boy injured 22 people in his stabbing rampage in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. The stabber used two kitchen knives to stab people as me moved through the hallways of his own high school. He went to classroom to classroom swinging them at one another. Yet, he was very quiet while he was doing it. According to a student, “he had this, like, look on his face that he was just crazy and he was just running around just stabbing whoever was in his way.”

He was then stopped by an assistant principal who tackled him to the ground and was taken into custody by police. Later identified as Alex Hribal, he was charged with four counts of attempted homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon on school grounds. Murrysville, a quiet town with a population of about 20,000 is known as a safe school community. However, with this horrifying occurrence, parents are not as ease when sending their students off to school for the day nor are the students, who fear their lives when walking from class to class.

Fort Hood, TEXAS – A US solider, who had served in Iraq, killed four people including himself and injured 16 on Wednesday. He reportedly had a history of mental health issues. The shooter, a military truck driver, was being treated for depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and was under psychiatric evaluation for PTSD. No motive has been identified yet, but terrorism has been ruled out.The shooting reignited the debate about mental health reform and gun control.

There were reportedly no indications before the shooting that the gunman could be violent. He purchased his gun at the same store as the 2009 Fort Hood shooter who killed 13 people. President Obama offered comfort to some of the same faces again grieving for soldiers killed in an act of senseless violence. “Part of what makes this so painful is that we’ve been here before,” a somber Mr. Obama told an estimated 3,000 people gathered on Sadowski Field. “This tragedy tears at wounds still raw from five years ago. Once more, soldiers who survived foreign war zones were struck down here at home, where they’re supposed to be safe. We still do not yet know exactly why. But we do know this: We must honor their lives not in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.”