Edrozo,+Justine

__**February 26 - Wiki #10**__ __Synopsis__ At least 17 people died in a massive landslide on the Indonesian island of Java. Dozens of homes were covered in tonnes of mud, while resuce search teams had to use hand tools to dig, then later excavators on Tuesday afternoon. The landslide occured near the village of of Tenjoljaya in Ciwidey district, about 35km southwest of the city of Bandung in West Java province. The landslide occured due to the heavy rains and flooding in the area. More than 600 villagers were moved to other villages where the landslide had not managed to cover. Authorities claimed warnings had been sent out about the dangers of the landslide, but no immediate action was taken to ensure the safety of the villagers. As time goes on, the chances of finding any survivors continues to decrease. Although landslides and flooding are common in Indonesia, many of the landslides are blamed on the illegal logging and unchecked water catchment areas.

__Sources__ 1. Al Jazeera [@http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/201022443712904326.html] 2. BBC News [@http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8530071.stm]

"Deadly landslide hits Indonesia." Al Jazeera. 24 Feb 2010. Al Jazeera, Web. 24 Feb 2010. <[]>.

"Indonesia landslide "kills five" in West Java village." //BBC News//. 23 FEb 2010. BBC News, Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

__Compare & Contrast__ To start things off, the background information about Indonesia commonly having landslides and flooding is the same as well as the location of the displaced villagers and landslide. Also, both articles spoke about what tools the rescue teams had to use to dig through all the mud. The Al Jazeera article was more informative, mostly because it is more recent than the BBC news article. Al Jazeera's article says that at least 17 people were killed due to the landslide although the BBC news article reports at least 5 people were killed. The BBC news article said that 500 villagers were displaced but the Al Jazeera article says that there were 600 villagers displaced because of the landslide. Also, the Al Jazeera article provides more information about previous landslides and floods that had struck Indonesia before. Their titles are also different. Al Jazeera's is "Deadly landslide hits Indonesia" while the BBC news' is "Indonesia landslide 'kills five' in West Java village". Although the BBC News article is more specific, the fact that the total number of people dead is not up-to-date is the bad part.

__Opinion__ Even though it seems like it was such a great disaster in Indonesia... these types of things happen all the time there. It really is horrific that there homes were literally buried in mud and water up to their roofs, but I just don't understand why they didn't listen to the authorities' warnings and try and take action to keep people from getting hurt. It's one thing for your house to be ruined, but for more than 17 people to die is another thing. I really hope that there aren't any more people who died in the landslide but that's being unrealistic. Hopefully though, the village can recover quickly from the landslide.

__** February 12 - Wiki #9 ** Synopsis__ In Maguindanao, Philippines, 196 more people were charged for a massacre that took place in November over election matters. 57 lives were taken in the massacre, including 30 journalists and staff members. One of the accused was Andal Ampatuan Sr., a provincial governer, that was also an ally of President Gloria Arroyo. As a result, the 196 were charged for taking part in a conspiracy to ambush and kill members and supporters of the Mangudadatu family. Apparently, Ampatuan Jr. was planning on running an unopposed campaign to replace his campaign, but Ismael Mangudadatu decided to run against him. Mangudadatu sent his wife and pregnant sister to the capital fearing that the Ampatuans would harm them. Ampatuan Sr. denies the charges and is currently awaiting a bail hearing.

__Sources__ 1. Al Jazeera [@http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/20102918941609686.html] 2. BBC News [@http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8505440.stm]

"Philippine massacre charges filed ." Al Jazeera English. 09 Feb 2010. Al Jazeera, Web. 10 Feb 2010. <[]>.

"Philippines charges 196 over Maguindanao massacre." BBC News. 09 Feb 2010. BBC News, Web. 10 Feb 2010. <[]>.

__Compare & Contrast__ Some similarities between the two articles is the basic information such as the main person being charged, Ampatuan Sr. as well as the information about his son, Amputuan Jr. Also, background information about the circumstances behind the massacre as well as the number of deaths. Pretty much everything was the same about both articles except for a few differences. The BBC article's title was "Philippines charges 196 over Maguindanao massacre" which is more specific than the Al Jazeera article's title of "Philippine massacre charges filed". The Al Jazeera article seems to downplay the amount of people that were actually charged while the BBC article puts the number straight out there. Also, the way the two articles opened were different. The BBC News article began with the number of people charged, the crime, and the death toll, while the Al Jazeera article started off with saying prosecuters were filing charges agains the Ampatuan clan for killing 57 people. The Al Jazeera article's focus is more on the Ampatuan family history and motives while the BBC article was more about the actual cases and deaths of the people. Al Jazeera provides a picture of Ampatuan Jr. while the BBC News article provides an image of the crime scene.

__Opinion__ I remember first hearing this on TFC (The Filipino Channel) way back last year, and I was pretty shocked by what happened. I couldn't really get it through my head that the Ampatuans would really go so far as to kill so many people because they were challenged by Mangudadatu. I mean, if you're running for something in an election, you should expect to have rivals but to go so far as to literally massacre a group of supporters and family members is just uncalled for. I was just a bit unclear on whether or not Mangudadatu's wife and sister are okay. The BBC article kind of makes it sound kind of like they were harmed (or even killed) but the Al Jazeera article makes it sound like they were able to reach the capital safely. I hope they did though, especially because his sister was pregnant!! That was the part that really got me, because I find it unthinkable that people would go so far as to hurt all those people just because of an election.

__** January 22 - Wiki #8 **__ __Synopsis__ Zhou Yongjun, a chinese democracy leader, was sentenced jail time of 9 years for alleged fraud. The arrest was made in Hong Kong, but police later handed him over to China's mainland government which aroused controversey. This is because Hong Kong and mainland China have two seperate government systems although Hong Kong is still part of China. Yongjun had tried to enter the former British colony from the U.S. after being exiled there, on a false Malaysian passport. The former activist for goverment reform earned global attention in 1989 when he and two other students knelt at the Great Hall of People next to Tainanmen Square to plead for the end of government corruption and to reform. Yongjun will appeal on his case.

__Sources__ 1. BBC News [@http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8473486.stm] 2. Times Online [@http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6994862.ece__]__

"Hong Kong alarm as China jails Tiananmen dissident." //BBC News//. 21 Jan 2010. BBC News, Web. 21 Jan 2010. .

"Chinese democracy leader Zhou Yongjun jailed for fraud." //Times Online//. 21 Jan 2010. Times Newspapers, Web. 21 Jan 2010. .

__Compare & Contrast__ Both articles are fairly similar to one another. Both articles say what he was allegedly charged of (fraud) and his background as an activist. Both articles also mention that his girlfriend is campaigning for his release from jail. Also, both articles state that other human rights advocates were alarmed by the fact that he was sent to the mainland of China instead of being trialed in Hong Kong where he should have been. Both articles had an image of Yongjun's girlfriend holidng up a picture of Yongjun. Some differences between the two articles are the title. BBC News' title was "Hong Kong alarm as China jails Tiananmen dissident" while the Times Online title was "Chinese democracy leader Zhou Yongun jailed for fraud". The Times Online title was much easier to understand what the article was about and was a lot more descriptive about the details. Also, the Times Online provided more details about Yongjun's previous endevours as well as background information about Chinese government and such. The BBC news article was much shorter and more condensed than the Times Online article.

__Opinion__ In my opinion, I don't think that he just have been charged just because he was trying to get back into the country to visit his old parents. That's kind of mean. I can understand the fraud allegations but I think it's relatively weird that he was sent to the China mainland government instead of being sent to Malaysia, where he was arrested, or back to the Hong Kong government. That's the part that really confuses me about the event. I definitely liked the Times Online article more than the BBC because it provided more background information about who Yongjun is and how he was arrested unlike the BBC News article which provided less details and used big words like "dissident". I had to look that up in the dictionary ):

__Synopsis__ In Nigeria, two men who formerly held senior positions under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, are being issued arrest warrants. Nasir el-Rufai was the minister for Abuja and Nuhu Ribadu once lead the anti-corruption agency, also known as the EFCC. The two men had left Nigeria shortly after leaving office. The warrants are not to arrest the men, but to keep them from coming back to Nigeria. They were asked to appear in court pertaining to EFCC cases, but both failed to show up. When Obasanjo left office in 2007, Ridabu was sent on a year long "training course". After, he fled to the UK, which took two attempts on his life. el-Rufai went to the U.S. to study after leaving office in 2007. He is wanted for the suspected for the dissappearance of millions of dollars of government funding. The current president, Umaru Yar'Adua, was in Saudi Arabia when the warrants were issued, due to a heart condition.
 * __ December 11 - Wiki #7 __**

__Sources__ 1. BBC News [@http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8405818.stm] 2. Africa News [@http://www.africanews.com/site/Nigeria_issues_arrest_warrant_for_ex_minister/list_messages/28503]

"Nigeria warrants for el-Rufai and Ribadu a 'witch-hunt'." //BBC News//. BBC News, 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. <[]>.

Africa News Monitoring Team. "Nigeria issues arrest warrrant for ex minister." //Africa News//. Africa News, 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. <[]>.

__Compare & Contrast__ The basic information from both articles are relatively the same. Both mention that el-Rufai was the minister & that Ribadu once lead the EFCC. Both contain the same information about the previous whereabouts for both men; el-Rufai studied in the United States and Ribadu fled to the UK. The articles are still somewhat different as well. For one, the titles are different. BBC News' title is "Nigeria warrants for el-Rufai and Ribadu a 'witch-hunt'" while the Africa News' title is "Nigeria issues arrest warrant for ex-minister". The BBC News' title was much clearer and provided details about who was being arrested whereas the Africa News' title is a bit misleading. It only refers to el-Rufai who was the ex-minister, with no mention of Ribadu until the article starts. The BBC news article's title also attracts more attention because of the quoted word; witch-hunt. In this case, it was used to mean a search for wrong-doers, quoted from one of the lawyers. The BBC news article provides actual quotes from the lawyers of both men, unlike Africa News'. Both articles talk about the current president Umaru Yar'Adua, but only the BBC News article mentions his current state of being. They are the ones who mention that he wasn't in Nigeria when the warrants were issued which is a big chunk of information since it shows that the decision was made by other politicians. BBC News also provides the pictures of the two men while Africa News only gives a picture of Nigeria and where Abuja is located. The BBC News article is much longer than the Africa News article because it provides more information and quotes from lawyers of the two men, policemen, and about the current president. They even mentioned the fact that el-Rufai was one of the people who signed a letter saying that President Umaru Yar'Adua should step down because of his heart problems.

__Opinion__ I think I would need more information about their wrong-doings to really judge this event. I know that one is accused of dissappearances of government funds (el-Rufai) but I don't fully comprehend why they want to arrest Ribadu. Was it because those two were "the leaders of the fight against corruption"? Why is it such a bad thing that they're fighting corruption? I would think that that would be a good thing, but I guess it has to do with what they did under the former president's term. I was a bit confused when I read the Africa News article because it didn't give as much background/present-day information about the two men, but after reading both the BBC news article and the Africa news article I understand it a bit better now. I'm just unsure of why Ribadu fled to the UK, and where the two men are now. I liked the BBC news article better, only because it provided background information about all the people involved as well as providing quotes from the lawyers of the two arrested.

__ **December 4 - Wiki #6** Synopsis__ Just last week, a Nigerian oil tank was hijacked near the cost of Lagos, by pirates. Named the African Prince, the tanker was thought to have carried 5,000 tonnes of refined oil, which belonged to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. The tanker was intercepted by the Ghanaian navy, but the pirates were able to escape. A chef from the 29-strong crew, was found down, badly beaten. Pirate attacks have been increasing in West Africa. Nigeria is one of the largest oil producing countries, but often have problems with oil theft.

__Sources__ 1. Africa News [@http://www.africanews.com/site/Ghana_returns_seized_Nigerian_oil_tanker/list_messages/28331] 2. BBC News [@http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8389284.stm]

Africa News Monitoring Team. "Ghana returns seized Nigerian oil tanker." //Africa News//. Africa Interactive, 2 Dec. 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. .

"Ghana returns Nigeria oil tanker after pirate attack." //BBC News//. BBC News, 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. .

__Compare & Contrast__ These articles were rather similar, although the information & statistics were in different orders. Both provide the same information about West Africa's pirate raids increasing, and have the same sentence structure for each piece of information. Both articles are also, very short. The main difference between these two articles are the beginning sentences. BBC News says that a BBC correspondent was the one who reported the ship was hijacked off of a coast near Lagos in Nigeria. He was also the person who reported the pirates got away, and that the chef had been killed. Both articles do use pictures; Africa News uses a picture of an oil freight ship, while BBC News just provides a map of Nigeria and the neighboring country Ghana, pointing out where Lagos is. One of the big differences is the title of the articles. Africa News' title was "Ghana returns seized Nigerian oil tanker" while BBC News' title was "Ghana returns Nigeria oil tanker after pirate attack". The Africa News' title makes it sound almost as if Ghana had taken and seized the Nigerian oil tanker, while the BBC news article clarifies that Ghana was actually helping Nigeria with the pirate attack. The last few sentences of both articles are worded, and placed in the exact same order.

__Opinion__ I think it's great that the Ghanian navy actually helped Nigeria get their oil tanker back. It's nice to see that at least in some part of the world, there are people that can still act civilly towards each other, instead of turning the blind eye, like what happened with Sierra Leone's civil war. It's almost comical to me in a way, when I think of pirates. The stereotypical pirate would be the black hat, eyepatch, hooked hands, with the parrot, looking for treasure... right? But then in the real world, there are pirates and even though they probably don't dress like that, their "treasure" is modern day things - like oil. I just don't like that they have to steal it from another country, but what do you expect, they're pirates. The articles were both pretty well written, there was adequate information provided about the oil tanks, the pirates, and also the previous history about pirate raids.

__** November 27 - Wiki #5 ** Synopsis__ Gambia has arrested their former army leader, General Lang Tombong Tamba, for supposedly being the leader of a plot to overthrow the government. The government refused to speak further over the issue, but has announced the demotion and dismissal of an army colonel, who is an ally of President Yahya Jammeh. General Tamba was fired while key members of the security team and business community were arrested and detained. Sources say that arrests were made after following up on an intercepted letter published in the Daily Observer, a government-owned newspaper. The writer, Kokoi Samba Sanyang, was addressing the letter to the president of Senegal, Abdoulie Wade, to supposedly kick President Jammeh out of office. Also, among those arrested were a former minister and military colleague of the President & the former head of the country's National Intelligence Agency.

__Sources__ 1. Adepa Radio [@http://www.adeparadio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=485:gambia-coup-plotter-detained&catid=1:adepa-news&Itemid=3] 2. Africa News [@http://www.africanews.com/site/Gambia_Coup_plotter_detained/list_messages/28248]

Anum, Paul. "Gambia: Coup plotter detained." //Adepa Radio//. Adepa News Feed, 26 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2009. .

Cham, Kemo. "Gambia: Coup plotter detained." //Africa News//. Africa News, 26 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2009 .

__Compare & Contrast__ Strangely, these two articles were EXACTLY the same. Word for word, every single sentence and piece of information. Both have the same picture posted, although Africa News does provide a caption that says the picture is of President Jammeh. Also, they have the same title, "Gambia: Coup plotter detained". Even though the articles were written word for word, the authors aren't the same person. Africa News' author is Kemo Cham, while Adepa Radio's author is Paul Anum. They were both posted on November 26, but Africa News' article was posted just two hours before Adepa Radio's was. The articles were fairly short in volume & rather hard to understand. There are some vocabulary choices that I don't exactly understand which makes the event hard to judge. The term "sacked" usually refers to someone being fired, but in the article it's used numerous times, but I don't know if they really know that the General was fired. In the first paragraph, it states that the General of Gambia's Police Force was axed. The word choice was very confusing since it was more of a slang term which you normally wouldn't see from a more "professional writing style" of journalism.

__Opinion__ It's kind of hard to really judge this article because of the fact that the actual writing was very hard to understand. There weren't a lot of details since I didn't know if the President Jammeh was a corrupt leader or not, or if the government was unstable. If Jammeh was in fact a corrupt leader, I think that it's reasonable that Tamba would stage a coup, but at the same time, they should've been more discreet about contacting Senegal's president. The whole 'coup staging' thing reminds me of how Johnny Paul Koroma of the AFRC staged a coup to overthrow Ahmed Tejan Kabbah during Sierra Leone's civil war. About the actual articles, I really didn't like them. They were hard to understand and it made me think that maybe one of them plagiarized from the other.

​ **__November 20 - Wiki #4__** __ **​** Synopsis __ The National Communication Council suspeded six private newspapers and a popular call-in chat show from a private TV station. The suspensions were publically announced by the Council on Tuesday evening on state-run TV. The Newspapers were given a time period of 1-3 month suspension while the talkshow was suspended indefinitely. It is alleged that the private newspapers were suspended for writing articles criticizing the newly elected president, Ali Ben Bongo, who is replacing his late father, El HadjOmar Bongo Odimba, saying there was an error in the election process because the democracy was now like a monarchy because of the bloodline involved. According to local journalists, the suspensions were made for "violating the ethics of journalism" and "inciting ethnic divisions" and also to silence any criticism aimed towards the election process.

__Sources__ 1. Times Live [@http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/article190150.ece] 2. Afrik [@http://en.afrik.com/article16465.html]

AFP. "Gabon newspapers suspended." //Times Live//. Avusa Digital Media Sales, 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .

CPJ. "Suspension of six newspapers in Gabon condemned." //Afrik//. Afrik, 13 Nov. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .

__Compare & Contrast__ The articles are fairly similar with the basic storyline, and the names of the newspapers, and some of the people named. Some differences were the titles and one or two quotes. There are no pictures on the Times Live article, but there is a picture of Gabon's flag on the Afrik article. The title for the Times Live article is "Gabon newspapers suspended" while the Afrik article is titled "Suspension of six newspapers in Gabon condemned". Times Live's title is more general while Afrik's article was much more detailed, stating the number of newspapers and that they were of strong dissaproval. The Times Live article had much more quotes than the Afrik article did. There were quotes from the newspaper l'Union about why the newspapers were suspended, different quotes used from the editorialist, Norbert Ngoua Mezui, of the Nkuu Le Messager, and smaller bits of quotes cut off. Times Live uses his full name, while Afrik does not include the "Mezui" part of his name. One thing odd about the Times Live article is that the National Communication Council is abbreviated as (CNC), but if the council begines with N, shouldn't the abbreviation have been (NCC) instead? The Afrik article says that according to Norbert Ngoua Mezui, the council did not provide specific press violations, but in the Times Live article, it says Nkuu Le Messager was banned after publishing an article titled "And the Monarchy is Installed in Gabon". There is no mention of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in the Times Live article, while the Afrik article starts off with a quote from the program coordinator and its title is based off of the CPJ's opinion on the suspensions of the newspapers. The Times Live article refers to the newspapers as "independent" while the Afrik article refers to the newspapers as "private". Also, the Afrik article includes the information about the call-in chat show, "Entre Nous", that was suspended indefinitely by the council, although the Times Live article fails to mention it.

__Opinion__ Well I can understand why the National Communication Council would want to end the talk about Gabon's government becoming a monarchy just because the late president died and his son won the election, but there's no way for the press to know whether or not the election process was tampered with. For all they know, it could have been the people's choice to vote for him. Isn't there supposed to be freedom of press? Okay, maybe suspension I can understand, but to suspend indefinitely the talk show just kind of goes a little too far I think. People should be able to say what their opinion on a certain topic is, and I don't think Council has any right to deny them that freedom. When a person goes into politics, it's expected that not all the people are going to like the new president, and they're free to say what they think of him/her. I don't think those newspapers and talk-show should have been suspended. Overall, I think the Afrik article did a better job with the coverage of the event, although Times Live had a lot of quotes and opinions from the editor of one of the suspended newspapers.

__** November 13 - Wiki #3 ** Synopsis__ A Supreme Court Judge and local member of parliament were shot dead by gunmen on Wednesday evening in the town of Puntland, Somali. There is no news on who the assailants are, only that they were masked men. The supreme court judge Mohamed Abdi Aware was shot in Bossaso, a port in the Puntland region, several times in the chest and head after finishing up evening prayers at the mosque. The parliament member was Ibrahim Elbi Warsame/Gab (unclear on last name due to confusing articles) who was shot at a tea shop in Puntland's capital of Garowe. Police say they are further investigating to see if the cases are linked in any way.

__Sources__ Africa News Al Jazeera

__Compare & Contrast__ The only similarities in the two articles are the fact that a Supreme Court Judge and member of Parliament were shot dead by masked gunmen in the town of Puntland. Both articles say that the Supreme Court Judge's name is Mohamed Abdi Aware, but there are differing names for the member of Puntland's parliament. The Africa News article says that Ibrahim Elmi Gab was the man killed at the tea shop in Garowe, but in the Al Jazeera article, the name of the man is Ibrahim Elmi Warsame. The only Warsame mentioned in the Africa News article is that of a police officer, Colonel Mohamed Warsameh, and even then there is a different spelling. The Africa news article's title is "Somalia: Gunmen kill two officials" which suggests that a number of gunmen were related to the killing of two officials either beside each other or related, but in both articles it states that police are not sure that the cases are related. Al Jazeera's title is "Judge shot dead in Somalia" which focuses the attention on only the Supreme Court Judge, mentioning nothing of the other murder. Also, I've come to notice that in the Africa News articles that pertain to Somalia, all have the same photo on the article; which is just a picture of people walking by cars and such. The Al Jazeera article focuses a bit more on the history of Puntland and about the pirates that Aware has jailed, which is why the photo on the article is of boats in water. The caption is "Pirates have exploited the lawlessness to launch attacks from many towns along Somalia's coastline". There are a few things that contradict themselves in the Africa News article such as the fact that it clearly says, "In a related event gunmen killed Gab (the parliament member)" and then later in the article, a quote from Ahmed Moalim Nur, a police officer in Garowe, says that they are not sure if the two incidents are related. The Al Jazeera article focuses more on history of the Somalia region and how the government has been corrupt for several years, but the Africa News article offers a closing one line sentence saying "the semi-atonomous Puntland town in northeastern Somalia is a peaceful region with its own administration." which is the complete opposite of what the Al Jazeera article was saying.

__Opinion__ To be honest, it was really hard for me to understand which article was giving the right facts about the stituation because they were so different. I'd like to say though, that I think that it really did have to do with something with Puntland's pirates who killed the Supreme Court Judge and probably who killed the member of Parliament as well. I think it was more of a revenge sort of thing because the judge was sentencing fellow pirates to jail and like a gang is, a pirate group is like a band of brothers; if one gets in trouble, the other one is most likely going to end up killing someone to get pay back. Which is probably not the best thing to do ... but we're talking about pirates here so.. You get the point. That was just messed up though that they had to kill the judge right after he came out of the mosque finishing up his prayers, and how the parliament member was killed having tea! Maybe I would've been able to understand more about the incident if I had been able to read the real facts about what happened since it was very hard to judge what were facts and what were bits of miscommunication when I had to read both articles, especially the part about the parliament member's name!

__Synopsis__ The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), Nigeria's main rebel group, are threatening to end their truce with government if foreign oil companies don't leave the land. According to the group's leader, Henry Okah, the government hasn't kept up their part of the truce, and only after a few days, the ceasefire is in danger of ending. The group is trying to drive out Nigeria's military out of the Niger Delta, to gain back land for the people whose homes were taken over, but the campaign has been meddled with by violent kidnappings of the people and oil theft. The government and Mend are willing to talk things out with each other through dialogue, and as of now, that is the only way peace can be established.
 * __November 6 - Wiki #2__ **

__Sources__ Al Jazeera BBC News

__Compare & Contrast__ The articles are actually very different compared to the miniscule amount of similiarties they have. Both articles start off by introducing what the group is trying to do and why. Both articles contain video interviews from Henry Okah, although the Al Jazeera article had a much longer interview time. The Al Jazeera article also had another video on the page. In the BBC News article, there are lots of pictures, while in the Al Jazeera article, there is only one photo. There is no mention of Okah being held prisoner in the Al Jazeera article. The titles are different as well. BBC News' title is "Nigerian rebels declare ceasefire" while the Al Jazeera article's title is "Nigeria rebels say truce could end". The BBC News title is a bit misleading because the actual article is talking about how the truce made earlier might be broken because of all the theft of oil and kidnappings. Al Jazeera's title is much more accurate. The Al Jazeera article is very short comparted to the BBC News article, because the BBC News puts more much detail about how long the truce was to last for (60 days) and what happened with peace talks. There is only one quote from Okah on the Al Jazeera site, while the majority of the BBC News article has quotes from Okah during the talks about the oil situation and discussing things with government. In fact, the only quotes that are on BBC News' article are from Okah & people in Mend. In the Al Jazeera article, there is one quote from the Nigerian Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili speaking about what they were going to do next.

__Opinion__ In my opinion, I think that the people who are kidnapping the civilians and stealing oil are actually really just sticking their hand into a fire if you know what I mean. I do understand that nowadays the economy is just horrible for everyone, but I don't think that stealing from another region is really going to help out. This reminds me a lot of that one reading we did where Rwanda & Uganda were stealing resources from the Congo, and taking colton, diamonds, and other resources, which cause civil war between the people, because they were fighting over things they needed but didn't have. If those two groups decided to make a truce, then they should both stick to what they agreed on. It's just a waste of time if the people aren't even willing to cooperate, much less stop fighting. I liked the BBC News article better than the Al Jazeera article mostly because there were more details and I fully understood why the rebel leader was held in the first place, and situations where oil was being stolen from the Niger Delta and why Mend wanted to call off the truce.

__Synopsis__ A group of Somali men were arrested for raiding the Fatima mosque in Taiz Town, just west of Yemen on Wednesday. They were suspected to be members of the Al-Qaeda terror group. After being searched by security forces, a laptop and a stamp of al-Manhal Charitable Society based in Mogadishu, Somalia were found. The Interior Ministry of Yemen identified the prime al-Qaeda suspect of the group as Nour Omar Warsama. All are being detained in the port city of Mahka for further investigations.
 * __October 30 - Wiki #1__ **

__Sources__ Africa News Earth Times

__Compare & Contrast__ Both articles are rather short and both contain one picture. The Africa News article has a picture of people walking and vans, which you can infer is Yemen because there is no caption. The Earth Times picture is a map of Yemen, also with no caption. Both articles close with some description of Somali refugees fleeing to Yemen because of the corrupt government in Somali. The Africa News article was titled "Yemen arrest five Somalis" which isn't exactly true since there were six people arrested - Nour Omar Warsama and the other five Somali men. There is no mention whatsoever about them suspected as al-Qaeda members. The Earth Times article was titled "Yemen arrest Somali al-Qaeda member in mosque raid" which suggests that there was only one person who was a definite al-Qaeda member that was arrested, when in reality there were six suspected al-Qaeda members. The Earth Times does not say which town the men were arrested in, unlike the Africa News article. The Red Sea port city is spelled differently in both articles. Africa News spells it "Mocha" while Earth Times spells it as "Mahka". The Africa News article makes it sound as if all six men were accused of being al-Qaeda members while in the Earth Times article, it says that Nour Omar Warsama was the only suspected al-Qaeda member and there was no news on why the other five Somali men were arrested.

__Opinion__ I don't understand why the men were raiding the mosque in the first place. I also think that the event is rather hard to follow, mainly because there still hasn't been much information found on the topic while people are still investigating. I definitely think that the Earth Times article went more in depth with the details of the story, compared to the Africa News because the Earth Times article actually explained that Nour Omar Warsama was the only al-Qaeda suspect and there was no mention from the ministry why the other five men were arrested. With the Africa News article, you get the impression that all six men were suspected of being al-Qaeda members.