BY GABBY RAYMOND ’20
The first international student studied at Mount Holyoke in 1839, just two years after Mary Lyon opened the doors to educate women from all over the United States, according to the Mount Holyoke website. In the 2016 – 2017 school year students from over 61 countries attended Mount Holyoke College. Because one person cannot speak for a whole community, the News seeks to tell the individual stories like that of Maha Mapara, a first-year from Karachi, Pakistan.
BY VICTORIA WANG ’20
The Mount Holyoke College Nepali Student Organization (NEPSO) hosted Himalayan Night on Friday, Oct. 27. The organization seeks to promote awareness about Nepali culture among the Mount Holyoke community and further contribute to the cultural diversity of the campus. Himalayan Night is part of the Mount Holyoke College Diversity Nights tradition, which include events such as VariAsians and other cultural nights.
BY SAVANNAH HARRIMAN-POTE ’20
According to Geo TV, a Pakistani television channel, Pakistan secured a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday, Oct. 16. The election was decided through secret ballot, and each candidate had to receive a simple majority of the 193 General Assembly member votes in order to receive a seat. Pakistan garnered 151 votes.
BY VICTORIA WANG ’20
China opened its 19th communist party congress in Beijing on Wednesday, Oct. 18. During the week-long congress, which is held every five years, the central delegates discuss keys issues which will project China’s future course of development for at least the next half a decade. As China continues to rise as a global superpower, this congress is particularly crucial to the global community, for it sets goals on China’s international participation in various aspects, as reported by Bloomberg.
BY GABBY RAYMOND ’20
Making the trek to Mount Holyoke every year can result in over 20 hours of flying time for students coming from China; so what motivates so many Chinese international students to study here? For Anran Wang ’19, it was her spirit of adventure that led her to travel from her home in Guangzhou, China, to South Hadley for school. Her family moved from a small town to the large metropolitan city of Guangzhou when she was finishing her elementary school years. She cited the switch to big city life as a turning point in her personality.
BY VICTORIA WANG ’20
The Trump administration announced its intent to withdraw from the U.N.’s Educational, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by the end of next year on Thursday, Oct. 12 due to an “anti-Israel bias,” as well as concern over mounting debt and the need for fundamental reform.
BY SARAH LOFSTROM ’19 AND GABBY RAYMOND ’20
Iraq
Iraqi forces took over a Kurdish held territory in the center of Kirkuk City on Monday, Oct. 16. According to Al Jazeera, the operation was part of an incentive to take oil-rich provinces. Kurdish forces defend Kirkuk City for three days against the Iraqi forces. Thousands of Arab, Kurds, and Turkman civilians have fled the conflict. It took around 15 hours for Iraqi forces to successfully claim the area.
BY GABBY RAYMOND '20
According to the Mount Holyoke website, the first international student came to study at Mount Holyoke College in 1839, just two years after Mary Lyon opened a door to education for women all over the United States. In the 2016 to 2017 school year there were students from over 61 countries. Angela Nayiga ’20, from Kampala, Uganda who came to Mount Holyoke last spring is one of those international students.
BY VICTORIA WANG '20
The government of Saudi Arabia lifted its driving ban on women after a royal decree on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The act was first publicized on Sept. 26 at the United Nations by Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative, and it was soon followed by an official announcement from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman onthe Saudi Foreign Ministry official Twitter account. The decree becomes effective on June 24, 2018.
BY VICTORIA WANG ’20
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, causing massive damage on Tuesday, Sept. 19. The quake’s epicenter was Puebla, a town about 100 miles south-east of the capital. According to BBC, the death toll has already mounted to 273 people. Mexican civil protection authorities told BBC that at least 38 buildings have collapsed in Mexico City. Among the ruins was primary school Enrique Rébsamen. Officials say 11 children were rescued, but 19 children and 6 adults died, as reported by the BBC.
BY SARAH LOFSTROM ’19
Norway’s Erna Solberg, of the centre-right conservative Party, was re-elected as prime minister on Monday, Sept. 11. According to Al Jazeera, Solberg’s platform rested largely on her anti-immigration policy, proposed continued oil drilling in the Arctic and retaining close ties with the EU, of which Norway is not a part. Solberg and her primary coalition partner, the Progress Party, will control 89 of the 169 seat Parliament house. Her re-election is historically significant because Solberg is now the first centre-right Prime Minister to be re-elected in 30 years, as reported by BBC.
BY BRONTE BRECHT ’19
Conflicts between the Myanmar state military and Rohingya groups have escalated this year after Rohingya militants attacked army and police outposts. Reaction from the Myanmar military has been swift and deadly, sparking massive systematic acts of violence against the Rohingya as a group. The New York Times defines the Rohingya as “a Muslim ethnic group that practices a form of Sunni Islam and have lived in Rakhine, one of Myanmar’s poorest states, for generations.” Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country with a population of over 52 million people. The Rohingya population in Myanmar is estimated at 1.1 million.
BY GABBY RAYMOND ’20
Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean Islands starting Wednesday, Sept. 6. Antigua, St. Martin, Anguilla, Puerto Rico, Barbuda and the Virgin Islands were the first hit, receiving the full force of the storm. The islands have all sustained major structural damage as well as power outages.
BY GABBY RAYMOND ’20
On Thursday, April 13, the United States Air Force dropped “the mother of all bombs” on the Achin district of Nangarhar, a province close to the Pakistani border of Afghanistan. The Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb was used to specifically target a channel of tunnels that ISIS members had been supposedly using to cross in and out of Pakistan. According to the Guardian, the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command argued that wiping out the tunnels reduced the number of improvised explosive devices that could possibly be used against U.S. troops. Furthermore, it would also damage the ISIS offshoot that is allegedly responsible for recent terrorist attacks in the area. Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan said in a press conference in Kabul that “it was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield, and it has enabled us to resume our offensive operations.”
