On 10 November 1995 the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were hanged by the military regime of General Sani Abacha. Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against the environmental damage done to Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, where oil extraction since the 1950s, especially by Shell, had polluted land and water. A special tribunal convicted him of ordering the murder of Ogoni chiefs, a charge he and many observers rejected. His execution caused international outrage, and Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.