Died

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., died on Aug. 25 at age 81. McCain, the son and grandson of admirals, was a naval aviator who endured five years of torture as a POW in Vietnam after his airplane was shot down. He refused an opportunity for release—offered by his North Vietnamese captors because of his father’s stature—and said POWs captured before him should be released first. After his release, he became a congressman, senator, and two-time presidential candidate. He lost the 2000 GOP nomination for president to George W. Bush and then became the GOP nominee in 2008, losing the general election to Barack Obama. McCain was generally conservative but became known as a maverick for championing liberal causes such as strict campaign finance regulation and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Died

Aretha Franklin, the often-called “Queen of Soul,” died on Aug. 16 at age 76. The singer grew up in a single-parent home as the daughter of a Baptist pastor. At 18 Franklin signed a deal with Columbia Records and launched her career in New York. Franklin went on to win 18 competitive Grammys, and her song “Respect” made her an early symbol for the civil rights and feminist movements. Her fame grew, and Franklin would perform for presidents, including at the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. She also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

Died

Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations and the first black African to hold the position, died on Aug. 18 at age 80. In the early 1990s Annan was in charge of peacekeeping operations for the UN, giving him responsibility for UN actions during the Rwandan genocide and the conflict in Bosnia, where he made decisions that would haunt him for life and influence his tenure as secretary-general. “I realized after the genocide that there was more that I could and should have done to sound the alarm and rally support,” he said. He held the office of secretary-general for 10 years beginning in 1997, becoming known for personal diplomacy and a willingness to intervene in conflicts. Annan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

Tried

Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor is calling for the execution of five activists currently on trial before the Saudi state, including a woman named Israa al-Ghomgham. Ghomgham, who has been in jail since 2015, is well-known for her work spreading and supporting the anti-government protests that have been going on in the Qatif region since 2011. But, as Human Rights Watch pointed out to the media, none of the state’s accusations against Ghomgham or the other four activists on trial include violent behavior, making the call for the death penalty “monstrous.” HRW and other groups are asking Saudi officials to drop the charges against Ghomgham.

Deported

The U.S. government has deported Jakiw Palij, an ex-Nazi guard, after trying for 14 years to get rid of him. Palij came to America in 1949 and lied on his immigration papers about his employment during World War II. He lived in New York City until 1993, when investigators found him and his true background came out. The SS trained Palij when he was 18, and he served the Nazis at Trawniki labor camp in occupied Poland in 1943. The Nazis killed over 6,000 Jews in one day in that camp. A federal judge stripped Palij, now 95, of his U.S. citizenship and ordered him deported, but no country would take him until Germany agreed to do so this year.