Keeping up with the news is hard, and the week of October 6, 2017 was packed with mind blowing stories that range from tragic shootings to hopeful peace talks. Below is a quick rundown of the most significant, unusual, or just plain astonishing events.
Mind Blowing Highlights
10 The US Suffered Its Deadliest Ever Mass Shooting
On Monday evening a massive crowd gathered in Las Vegas for the final day of the Route 91 Harvest Festival. From the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel, a 64‑year‑old man named Stephen Paddock shattered two windows, grabbed a rifle, and opened fire on the crowd below.
Chaos erupted. Within fifteen minutes the death toll hit 58 and nearly 500 were wounded, making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Paddock was a wealthy gambler and real‑estate investor with no prior violent record. His victims spanned every walk of life – off‑duty police officers, nurses, teachers, parents, bankers, and ordinary concert‑goers.
Unlike the previous deadliest shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, no clear motive emerged in Las Vegas. For reasons unknown, the shooter decided to end as many lives as possible.
Those wishing to help can contribute directly to the victims’ fund via the provided link.
9 The Internet Disgraced Itself Trying To Politicize The Vegas Killings
When 58 people died and hundreds more were injured, the appropriate response was mourning, aid, and reflection. Many indeed donated blood and contributed nearly $10 million to the victims’ fund.
Unfortunately, a sizable portion of the online community turned the tragedy into a political blame game.
Both right‑wing and left‑wing trolls engaged in point‑scoring, with the former falsely linking the shooting to an anti‑Trump liberal and the latter reveling in the fact that the shooter was a white man.
Attempts were also made to “prove” the shooter had converted to Islam, despite the FBI debunking ISIS’s claim of responsibility—a group known for falsely claiming unrelated attacks.
This behavior highlights how divided we have become; the victims’ identities should matter, not the political points being scored.
8 Colombia’s Largest Remaining Rebel Group Called A Truce
While the U.S. was grappling with its own tragedy, good news emerged south of the border. After the FARC disarmed last year, the ELN became Colombia’s largest rebel group.
The ELN, a Marxist‑Catholic organization, is smaller than the former FARC but continues kidnapping and attacks, including a recent bomb in Bogotá that killed a policeman and injured 20.
On October 1 the ELN’s high command announced its first truce in 50 years, paving the way for peace talks and possible disarmament with the Colombian government.
Founded in 1964, the ELN once numbered far more fighters; today it has about 1,500. If negotiations succeed, guerrilla violence in Colombia could finally end.
7 We Pledged To Eradicate Cholera
Humanity has fully eradicated only one disease—smallpox—in 1980. We’ve come close with Guinea worm, which saw just two cases in 2016 compared to three million in 1980.
This week the World Health Organization pledged to eradicate cholera by 2030.
Cholera remains a deadly disease, infecting nearly three million people annually and killing about 95 000. It is wreaking havoc in Yemen and devastated Haiti after the earthquake.
Eliminating cholera would relieve endless suffering in low‑resource countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, and parts of India.
While the pledge is currently just a commitment without a detailed plan, history shows it can be done—the last cholera outbreak in the U.S. was in 1911.
6 The Palestinian Authority Met For The First Time In Years
In November 2014 the Palestinian Authority fell out with Hamas after the latter sparked a war with Israel from Gaza. Fatah, governing the West Bank, cut all contact and even cut electricity to the strip, but nothing changed the divide.
This week Hamas and Fatah met in Gaza for the first time in three years, with Hamas preparing to hand over the strip to Fatah, creating a unified Palestinian Authority for the first time since 2007.
The significance lies in Gaza’s control: Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and Israel, and its hold on Gaza has been a major obstacle to Israeli‑Palestinian peace talks.
A reunited authority could revive negotiations—provided Hamas agrees to disarm and cease its fight against Israel.
5 Terrorism Returned To France And Canada
France, which has seen a wave of Islamist attacks since the Charlie Hebdo shootings, experienced a relatively minor incident when a man stabbed two women in Marseille and was later shot dead by soldiers. The incident raised the death toll of French citizens killed by Islamist terrorism since January 2015 to 241.
This was the first attack killing more than one person since the 2016 Nice truck attack. The hope is that this marks the last gasp of that ideology in France.
Canada, with a much shorter recent history of Islamist terrorism, faced a new attack when Abdulahi Hasan Sharif rammed a truck into pedestrians, injured five, and stabbed a police officer before being captured.
4 Crisis Brewed On Battered Puerto Rico
Two weeks earlier Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, leaving about 3.4 million U.S. citizens without power and many without clean water, food, or medicine.
Even after a fortnight, many outside San Juan are still awaiting assistance. The death toll has risen to 34, and signs suggest a lingering crisis may be brewing.
The island’s infrastructure was devastated; hospitals are barely functioning, and the lack of basic necessities could prolong the crisis well beyond the storm’s immediate impact.
The slow federal response has compounded the problem, though the sheer force of Maria made pre‑storm supply drops largely ineffective.Hope remains that Puerto Rico will recover.
3 Separatism Protests In Cameroon Spiraled Into Bloodshed
Cameroon, a former French‑British colony, has a French‑speaking elite and a small English‑speaking minority near the Nigerian border.
Years of perceived oppression have driven English speakers toward separatism. This week, protests turned violent as security forces opened fire, killing 17 people.President Paul Biya’s increasingly autocratic stance, including an internet shutdown and previous electricity cuts, has heightened tensions, raising fears of a broader crisis.
2 A Former British Prime Minister May Or May Not Have Been Revealed As A Child Sex Abuser
Wiltshire Police launched Operation Conifer in 2015 to investigate allegations that former Prime Minister Edward Heath had sexually abused children. The inquiry, which also touched on alleged satanic ritual abuse, previously implicated Lord Brittan.
Recently the police released their official report. Their conclusions suggest Heath would be arrested for questioning if alive today, yet they caution that no inference of guilt should be drawn.
One of the counts involves an alleged rape of an 11‑year‑old boy, leaving the investigation mired in controversy. Heath’s godson has called for an inquiry into the police’s handling, while others demand a separate probe into possible obstruction of justice.
1 Spain And Catalonia Faced Their Biggest Crisis In Decades
On Monday morning, the possibility loomed that Spain could fracture as Catalonia declared itself a new nation.
Catalonia, a historically separatist region, held a referendum on secession that the central government attempted to block, since secession is illegal under Spain’s post‑Franco constitution.
When President Carles Puigdemont refused to cancel the vote, Spanish police clashed with voters, injuring roughly 900 ordinary Catalans at polling stations.
Only about 43 percent of Catalans voted, undermining the claimed 90 percent pro‑independence result. Nonetheless, Puigdemont pushed ahead with a declaration of independence, spurred by rhetoric from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and statements from the Spanish king.
The future remains uncertain. Spain has been a democracy only since 1978, and any move toward Catalan secession could reignite memories of the civil war. A new, legally‑sanctioned referendum with international observers may be the only viable solution.