Thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutu tried to escape the massacre by hiding in churches, hospitals, schools, and government offices. These places that have been places of refuge during the majority of conflicts, suddenly turned into places of mass murder. During the Rwanda genocide in an effort to further degrade the victims, Tutsi were not allowed to bury the dead. Rwandan Patriotic Front finally gained the upper hand in the conflict and seized power in the country. President Kagame took office and brought stability to the deeply wounded nation. The international community provided the new government with unprecedented levels of aid. Few years after the genocide, President Kagame received high-profile commendation for the way he unified Rwanda and masterminded economic recovery. The atrocities of the Rwanda genocide remain a constant reminder in history of the other side of human nature. Read more on the genocide here. You can also watch a documentary on the horrible event.
In the wake of the 1994 the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana, the Hutu president in Rwanda, triggered the bloodshed of massive proportions. When President Habyarimana's plane was shot down by ground missiles, Hutu extremists seized power in the country and began a slaughter of all Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In just 100 days mass killings perpetrated by millitia took a death toll of more then 800,000 people. Men, women, and children were murdered without regard. Since bullets were expensive, most of the killing was done with machetes or clubs in a brutal manner. A large number of victims were often tortured before being killed. Thousands of Tutsi women were raped and kept as sex slaves for weeks. The international community refused to intervene and stop the violence at first. When they finally decided to react, the aftermath of genocide found in the country was absolutely horrible. Read more on Rwanda genocide here. You can also watch a documentary on the horrible event.
Icesave was an online savings account brand owned and operated by the Landsbanki bank from 2006–2008 that offered savings accounts in two countries, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. They managed to attract over 300,000 customers in the United Kingdom, with deposits of more than €5 billion and 125,000 customers who deposited €1.7 billion in the Netherlands. When the banks collapsed in 2008, depositors were unable to access their money creating an international diplomatic incident. Iceland managed to survive the financial crisis by taking over the domestic units of its banks and leaving the foreign creditors with losses of the bad investment decisions. An slump in the krona against the euro offshore pushed the trade deficit into surplus within months. The transformation of economy came at a high cost, the banking system defaulted, but slow recovery signs are present. Read more about the economy of Iceland here. You can also watch a short documentary on the economic crisis and the events that followed.
The biggest banks in Iceland were considered a wonder few years ago because of their incredible growth rates. In 2008 they owed six times the country's total GDP. The global financial crisis disrupted the plans of further expansion and the banks found themselves unable to refinance the huge loans. It reflected on the Iceland economy greatly, making a national default a reality. The government took over the same heavily indebted banks, causing Icelandic interest rates to spike at 15.5% while national currency krona started losing value at a high rate. Protests in Iceland's capital Reykjavik, clashes with police, calls for the resignation of government officials became everyday occurance. New elections were eventually held and newly elect Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir set out a government's plan to rescue Iceland from the financial ruin. Read more on the Iceland economic crisis here. You can also watch a short documentary on the economic crisis and the events that followed.
Watch the story of a horrible massacre in which around 800,000 Rwandans were hunted down and murdered by Hutu millitia. The genocide of such magnitude occured because of the social, political, and diplomatic failures on the belhalf of United States and international community. The documentary is divided into eight parts and originally named "Ghosts of Rwanda", a PBS special two-hour documentary to mark the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, combined with the catastrophic tsunami resulted in emergency shutdowns at numerous Japanese nuclear power plants. At the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, a loss of electricity allowed three reactors to overheat, endangering all the nearby civilian population. Despite multiple attempts to cool down the reactor with sea water, partial meltdowns of the reactor cores have occured. The environmental damage can't be fully understood at this time. People are taking precautions in their struggle to combat the negative effects of the radiation. Learn more on the nuclear disaster in this short documentary.
Iceland has been ranked high among the best places in the world to live for several years in a row, according to the UN Human Development Index. In 2008 the national economy was devastated with a crisis that arose from the global financial crisis. National banks transformed into huge financial subjects, controlling amounts of money far greater than the country’s own wealth. Iceland faced riots, the resignation of the government and elections as a result. Learn more in this interesting short documentary.