Yu,+Sophy

10/30/09
 * __Bill Gates Gives $120 Million to African, Indian Farmers__**

On October 15th, 2009, Bill Gates announced that he will be giving $120 million to some of the world's most poorest farmers in Africa and India so that it will improve their lives and reduce hunger and poverty. Half of the grant will go to Africa's agriculture research that include experiments with millets, legumes, sweet potatoes and sorghum. Gates said that more needs to be done to help small-holder farmers in Africa increase production and get their crops to the markets. He thinks that helping poor farmers like the ones in africa is the world's single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty. Gates thinks that the world needs to develop new crops that can survive in the world's most harshest conditions while producing higher yeilds. The money will be used to help the development of crops that can help the environment such as legumes, which is a natural fertilizer. It will also improve health because they can plant sweet potatoes that are rich in Vitamin A. Vitamin A is the vitamin that most young children are missing in their diet when they're going through the growing process.

__Sources:__

The Seattle Times: [] Yahoo News: []

__Comparison:__

The articles were about the same length and talked about pretty much the same thing. The Yahoo article had one picture of Bill Gates while giving the speech about donating the money but The Seattle Times didn't have any visuals at all. The Yahoo article mentioned how the money was being donated to Africa and India but The Seattle Times article didn't mention anything about India. They both have a quote where Bill Gates said, "If we can make small-holder farming more productive and more profitable, we can have a massive impact on hunger and nutrition and poverty." The Seattle Times article's title mentioned how Bill Gates wants more attention towards Africa but in the Yahoo article, the title mentions Bill Gates actually giving $120 million to Africa.

__Opinion:__

I think that it is very nice and generous of Bill Gates to donate so much money towards farming and natural resources in Africa. It really shows how much he cares about the world. This article showed me that the natural resources in other countries can really interfere with our natural resources. I wonder how much improvement is going to be made from this donation and how it's going to interfere with the U.S.'s natural resources.

11/5/09
 * __New__** **__Vaccine Offers Hope in Africa's Malaria Battle__**

Malaria, the disease that comes from mosquitos kills a million African children a year but now a new vaccine that was able to prevent Malaria in 50% of children being tested, is now in its final testing stages. If the docotrs are able to determine that the vaccine is safe, then it could be on the market in about 3 to 5 years. It would be the first vaccine against a human parasite. The testing is taking place in 11 sites in 7 African countries on 16,000 children under the age of 18. Tens of millions of Africans are plagued by Malaria every year and a fourth of the hospital's patients in Africa are dedicated to people who have Malaria. The vaccine was specially made for Africa. GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spent about $500 million making this vaccine

__Sources:__

The Seattle Times: [] The New York Times: []

__Comparison__:

The two articles were EXACTLY the same so there isn't much to compare. Even the titles were the same.

__Opinion:__

I think that is it great to hear that Africa is finally able to get help on all the diseases they have. It must've taken forever! $500 million is so much money and once again, it's generous of Bill and Melinda Gates! Reading this article showed how we're still making great discoveries everyday and those discoveries are helping so many people in the world. I wonder when the testing will officially finish and when they'll be able to use it on the sick patients.

11/12/09
 * __Women Die In Ghana Mine Collapse__**

About 15 people died when an illegal gold mine collapsed in western Ghana. It was located in a town called Dompoase. It collapsed on Tuesday and the police in the town are still trying to identify the dead. They have launched an investigation on Thursday. The mine some how caved in on them and 13 women were included in the 15 that died. The men were digging while the women carried out the soil for sorting. The police say that there were about 30 people were working in the mine at the time but many people managed to escape unharmed. The officials described the accident as Ghana's worst mining disaster. The police say that there might be a possibility of criminal negligence but the owner of the mine was one of the people killed.

__Sources:__

BBC: [] The Seattle Times: []

__Comparison:__

The BBC article had a lot more information than The Seattle Times article and it gave more detail on what happened. In The Seattle Times article, it said that the police didn't know how many people were working in the mine at the time but the BBC article said that there were 30. The BBC article's title mentioned how mostly women died during the accident but The Seattle Time's article's title mentioned how the mine was illegal and about how many people died. Other than that, the articles pretty much gave the same information.

__Opinion:__

I think that Ghana's government should really look out for their mine's safety. If they don't, a lot more people might get hurt! Since it was an illegal mine, did the government even know about it? I was also wondering what caused the mine to collapse. = = 11/18/09
 * __Somali Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery__**

In Mogadishu, Somalia, a woman who is a divorcee, was stoned to death for having an affair with her boyfriend by Islamists called the al-Shababs. She gave birth to a still-born baby. Her boyfriend was 100 lashes. According to the al-Shabab's interpretation of Sharia law, anyone who has been married, even a divorcee, who has an affiar, if most likely to be found guilty and stoned to death. They also believe that if you are unmarried, and have sex, then you get 100 lashes. The woman was found guilty for adultery and was killed in front of a crowd of 200 people on Tuesday. It the the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab. This stoning death is about the fourth death for adultery in Somalia over the last year.

BBC News: [] The Seattle Times: []

__Comparison:__

The BBC News article had a lot more information about why the woman was stoned to death and about the law the al-Shababs believed in. The Seattle Times article didn't mention much about this law. The BBC News article was also much longer than The Seattle Times article. Their titles were exactly the same and they both talked about how it is the second time that a woman has been stoned to death for adultery and how it's the fourth death for adultery in Somalia. The BBC News aticle had pictures of the al-Shababs and a map of Somalia but The Seattle Times article didn't have any visuals at all.

__Opinion:__

I think that it is really wrong for the al-Shababs to stone people to death like that. I understand that adultery is wrong, but they have no right to just kill them like that. What makes it worse is that the woman wasn't even married anymore! I think that the law the al-Shababs believed in is really unfair and the way that the woman died was cruel. Why isn't the Somalian government doing anything about this?!

11/27/09
 * __Congo Boat Sinking Leaves 73 Dead__**

A logging vessel sank on a lake in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo and killed at least 73 people. On Wednesday, the boat that was not authorised to take passengers went to the lake in bad weather. About 272 people survived but some are still missing. They aren't sure how many people are missing exactly because the boat didn't have a manifest. The bodies were found on shore of the lake. They say that the bodies were trapped inside the boat and unable to get out. The boat went down on Lake Mai-Ndombe in Bandundu province which is 250 miles northeast of Kinshasa. It is said that the boat sank around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.

__Sources:__

BBC News: [] The New York Times: []

__Comparison:__

Both articles pretty much had the same title and were about the same lengths. In the BBC News article, there was a map of Congo showing where the lake was that the boat sinked in but The New York Times article didn't have any visuals. The New York Times article stated that there were about 272 people that survived but the BBC News article stated only 270 people survived. The New York Times article mentioned a time in which the boat sank but the BBC News article didn't mention anything about the time.

__Opinion__

I think that ships should be a lot more careful about when they go out into the lake. Why in the world would a ship go out suring bad weather with many passengers on it when it wasn't even allowed to carry passengers? I'm also curious about what caused the boat to sink. Was it because it was too heavy?

__**Suicide bomber hits Somali graduation, 22 dead**__ 12/3/09

In Mogadishu Somolia, a suicide bomber desguised himself as a woman, attacked a graduation. The bombing took place in Shamo Hotel where several hundred people gathered to watch 43 medical, computer science, and engineering students graduate from Benadir University. This was only the second class to graduate from Benadir University. There was at least 22 people killed from the bombing including many medical students, doctors, and three government ministers. The bombing was blamed on Islamic militants who are known for their ability to carry out big bombings on high profile targets. The bomb went off just about a yard away from the journalists covering the event and 3 of them died. The suicide bomber was also killed during the bombing.

__Sources:__

BBC News: [] The Seattle Times: []

__Comparison:__

The BBC News article had a picture of one of the people injured during the bombing and a map of where the Shamo Hotel was exactly located but The Seattle Times article didn't have any visuals at all. The Seattle Times article had a lot more background information on Benadir University whereas the BBC news article didn't have any. The BBC News article stated that only about 19 people were killed from the bombing but The Seattle Times article said there was about 22 people killed. The Seattle Times article also had a lot more information about the past bombings in Somolia but the BBC News article only mentioned a little about them. The BBC News article said 4 government ministers died but The Seattle Times article said that only 3 died.

__Opinion:__

It is so sad to know that so many innocent people died. What was the whole point of the bombing anyways? Why did they have to plan it somewhere where so many innocent people were going to die? It's really cruel to plan it at a graduation ceremony! It's supposed to be a happy day for many people but it turned out to be such a disaster. Since ministers were there, how come there wasn't any security? Was their target the ministers? I think that the government should really step up their protection for their country. Or else more innocent people will die.


 * __Guinea Arrests 100 Soldiers__**

More than 100 soldiers have been arrested for trying to assassinate Guinea's junta leader Capt Moussa Dadis Camara. In Guinea's capital, Conakry, troops have been torturing and killing people in order to find people that are suspected of being apart of the attempted assassination. They are said to be allies of presidential guard chief Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite who is suspected of being behind the shooting of Capt. Camara. He has still not been caught. Many rights groups say that Capt. Camara should just step down from his position. He is still recovering from a bullet wound in his head. Capt. Camara was shot during an argument he had with Diakite over should take responsibility for the killing of dozens of opposition protesters in Guinea's capital Conakry.

__Sources:__

BBC News: [] VOA News: []

__Comparison:__

Both articles both pretty much talk about the same information. The major difference is that in the BBC News article, it says only 60 soldiers have been arrested whereas in the VOA News article, it said that 100 soldiers were arrested. In the BBC News article, there was a picture of a painting of Capt. Camara but in the VOA News article, there wasn't any pictures at all. The BBC News article talked about how troops are finding suspects but the VOA News article didn't mention anything on that. Both articles have a map on Guinea and talk about how Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite is suspected to be behind the shooting.

__Opinion:__

I don't understand how troops can just go around torturing and killing people that they suspect has something to do with the shooting. How do they even know if the person they're ahttp://ihshistoryclass.wikispaces.com/Yu%2C+Sophyrresting is innocent or guilty? You can't just arrest someone like that. You have to have evidence. Many innocent people would get hurt or even killed because of the way they're trying to catch criminals. Why do they even suspect that Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite is behind the shooting?

1/21/10 __Malaysia Police Arrest Eight Over Church Attack__

Earlier this month, Malaysian police arrested over eight people over a firebombing of a church. Nobody was injured. The federal police say that the right suspects have been detained overnight. they were about 21 to 26 years old. Police were able to find them because they went to the hospital with severe burn injuries. The church that got bombed was called the Kuala Lumpur's Metro Tabernacle Church. These are the first suspects that have been caught since the 11 church attacks. The attacks occurred right after a court ruled that non-Muslims could use the word "Allah" to refer to God. Many ethnic Malay Muslims were upset and said that letting Christians use "Allah" in their Malay-language publications could confuse some Muslims.

Sources:

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8469384.stm The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010835733_apasmalaysiaallahban.html

Comparison:

The Seattle Times article didn't have a single picture and the BBC News article has one picture of the church that burnt down. The Seattle Times article mentioned the 11 other churches that were also bombed but the BBC News article didn't mention it. The BBC News article didn't talk much about why the people bombed the churches whereas The Seattle Times article talked a lot more about it. They both talked about how the attacks started right after the court hearing about the Muslim word.

Opinion:

I think that it's very good that they're trying to catch all the people that bombed all those churches because if they're still out there, they could do very harmful things. If they continue to bomb churches, they might even end up hurting innocent people. I don't understand why people are so mad about the court hearing about the word "Allah". I get that their mad but they don't have to overreact that way and bomb churches. It's unnecessary and won't help solve anything.

1/29/10
 * __Chinese houses collapse as quake rocks Sichuan__**

An earthquake having a magnitude of 5.2 killed one person, injured 15 people and damaged thousands of homes in China's Sichuan Province. It was reported that 4,700 houses were damaged in Tongnan County, which is right next to Sichuan. About 100 houses collapsed and most of them were in the Moxi area of Suining. Moxi is a city that has about 3.5 million residents. Chongqing's civil affairs authority sent 40 tents and 1,500 cotton padded quilts to the disaster area. Sichuan is not prone to earthquakes but on May 12th, 2008, it was struck by a 8 magnitude earthquake that left about 87,000 people dead or missing. The authorities in Sichuan are still not sure if the latest earthquake was the aftershock of the 8 magnitude earthquake.

__Sources:__

SABC News: [] BBC News: []

__Comparison:__

Both articles talked about pretty much the same things. The BBC article has a picture of one of the damaged houses and map of where the earthquake was but the SABC aticle didn't have any pictures at all. The BBC article didn't say anything about the tents and quilts that Chongqing's civil affairs authority sent to the disaster area but the SABC article talked about it. They both mentioned the May 12th, 2008 earthquake and how many people died because of it. The BBC article stated that 11 people were injured but the SABC article stated that 15 people were injured.

__Opinion:__

I think that it's terrible to hear that another earthquake has hit Sichuan since it's just recoving from a huge earthquake that killed so many people. Luckly, this time there was only one person that died. Also, I think that it sucks how so many houses are damaged. I wonder if there is any place that the government is letting people without houses stay. Hopefully there is. I'm glad to hear that tents and quilts were given to people in Sichuan.