Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan, is on the verge of civil war as two factions fight for power (Agence France-Presse [AFP], December 19, 2013). “Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more terrified civilians have fled their homes” (ibid.).

Nelson Mandela will be remembered around the world as the emblematic face of the struggle against apartheid.  Perhaps more than any other individual, Mandela, who died on December 5, 2013 at age 95, embodied the effort to scrap apartheid in South Africa and bring the nation’s exclusive white rule to an end. Upon his death, he is known for his character and its transformation of a nation. Yet, throughout most of his life, Mandela was a controversial and divisive figure.

In an attempt to force better care and treatment of animals, “A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first” (BBC, December 4, 2013).