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On January 27, a number of national and international events took place as part of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was on that day in 1945 that over 7,000 prisoners were liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp in southern Poland.

“The number of children maimed, killed or recruited to fight in the Syria conflict has increased dramatically over the past year, with children as young as seven forced to act as frontline fighters, prison guards, suicide bombers and executioners,” according to a UNICEF report (The Guardia

“UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said that more than 20 million people faced the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Unicef has already warned 1.4m children could starve to death this year” (BBC, March 11, 2017). The crisis has been called the “largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations” (ibid.). According to Mr. O’Brien, if the disaster is not averted the world will witness “Children stunted and out of school.

As China persists in its claim of islands in the South China Sea, “Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May… in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two” (Reuters, March 14, 2017). “‘The aim is to test the capability of the [carrier] Izumo by sending it out on an extended mission,’ said one of the sources who have knowledge of the plan. ‘It will train with the U.S.

As I entered the county courthouse in the small Southern town where I grew up, it was a special day for me. At age 14, I was going to take my license exam to obtain a driving permit! While I waited my turn, I walked around the old building with its high ceilings and creaking floors. This was the time of the racially segregated South. In an alcove, I saw two identical water fountains, side by side.