Phare,+Rebecca

//4/11/10// The Solomon Islands experienced a 7.1 earthquake 60 miles southwest of Kira Kira on Sunday. The islands, part of an earthquake-prone zone called the "Ring of Fire", have experienced strong earthquakes as recently as January of this year. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said that there was no risk of a tsunami.

Information retrieved from Al [|Jazeera English] and [|Sky News]. The largest and most important difference I noticed between the articles is that Al Jazeera said that a tsunami warning had been issued, while Sky News said that there had not. I looked at other news sources and they all said that there was no tsunami warning. I assume that either the warning was retracted after the Al Jazeera article was written, or they received bad information. Aside from that, the Sky News article was much shorter than the Al Jazeera article, which provided a section of the area's history in terms of earthquakes and detailed statistics about the earthquake.

I think the amount of bad earthquakes we've been having recently is really worrying. First there was the earthquake in Haiti, then the ones in Chile, Japan and California (among others), and now this. It's honestly a frightening pattern. The sheer number of them so close to each other not only has the obvious effect of killing more people and destroying more land, but also might make relief efforts difficult since the groups will have so many situations on their hands at once. I hope this stops sometime soon.

//4/4/10// After spending more than a week in a flooded coal mine, nine Chinese miners were rescued today in Xiangning. Having spent the entire time without air, sunlight, food, or water (they were afraid to drink the dirty water that had flooded the mine), the miners were carried up on stretchers, wrapped in blankets and blindfolded to protect their eyes from the light. Divers were only able to rescue these people after pumps lowered the water level in the mine, and 144 miners are still trapped.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|Yahoo! News]. Both articles included pictures of miners being rescued, but they seem to have been taken in different areas. A major difference is that the Al Jazeera article said that none of the miners had been identified and were too exhausted to speak, but the Yahoo article not only mentioned the names of one of the miners, but also included a quote by him. This seems to indicate that the Yahoo article was written after the Al Jazeera article. Both articles mentioned the state of China's mining industry, saying that their mines were the most dangerous in the world, but Yahoo followed up with statistics about the number of deaths in Chinese mines, while the Al Jazeera article explained what most mining deaths are blamed on.

I think this event is tragic. I couldn't say it's surprising, since mining is a hugely dangerous business, even outside of China, and people die in mines frequently. That doesn't really make it any more sad, though. I'm glad that some miners were rescued, and I hope that most of the others still trapped are alive.

//3/21/10// On Saturday, Nepal's prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala died at the age of 85. Koirala had been sick for some time, suffering from heart and lung problems. His term had marked the end of a 10-year civil war in Nepal, and he was responsible for keeping the peace between parties in the country. He also established a democracy in 2008. His death is expected to create disagreements about who should succeed him in the party, as well as hindering peace processes between the parties.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|The Times of India]. The article from the Times of India was considerably more focused on India-Nepal relations, taking quotes from an Indian ambassador and discussing India's policies in relations with Nepal. The Al Jazeera article, however, discussed Nepal's recent history and the effect Koirala had on it. The TOI article talked more about the expected changes or effects that Koirala's death would cause. The Al Jazeera article had a picture of Koirala, while the TOI article didn't have any pictures.

I didn't actually know much about Nepal's recent history until I read this article. I'd like to know what this civil war was about now. I think it's sad that Koirala died, but the fact that he had been sick for so long and that most people (including himself) were expecting him not to live much longer takes a lot of the edge off of it.

//3/14/10// Red-Shirts, supporters of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, gathered by the thousands in Bangkok on Sunday to demand an election to be held. They believe that Thaksin, who was thrown out of office in a coup in 2006 and has been living in Dubai to escape arrest, should be reinstated as prime minister. About 100,000 protesters showed up, and 50,000 security personnel were deployed to keep peace if necessary. The protesters claim that if their demands are not met by noon, they will move their protest to army headquarters, but say that it will continue to be a peaceful protest.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|CNN News]. Both sources had pictures, but the Al Jazeera article showed policemen with shields and batons, while the CNN article had a picture of a protester. The CNN article provided a concise explanation of the history of the Red-Shirts, while the Al Jazeera article made a brief mention of their history in the article and then provided links to a long, in-depth explanation elsewhere. Importantly, the title of the CNN article is "Thai Protesters To March On To Army Headquarters", while the Al Jazeera article said that the protesters had mentioned moving their protest elsewhere but the reporters only suspected it would be the army HQ. I assume that the CNN article was written after the Al Jazeera article.

Unfortunately I'd have to do more research to give my opinion on this article, because I didn't know about this conflict until now. I'm glad I heard about it, though, because it sounds like it's having a large effect on Thailand right now. I'm very glad that the protest has stayed non-violent so far, though.

//3/07/10// Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said that China expects an 8% ecomonic growth this year, and plans to spread this evenly to close the country's gap between rich and poor. He stressed innovation and economic increase, saying that these things are crucial to "improving people's well-being and safeguarding social fairness and justice". China's economic boom left many behind, especially in rural areas, so he has said that the programs will be carried out exclusively in these areas, along with reforms of the household registration system (which determines whether people live in rural or city areas) so more people can benefit.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|BBC News]. The Al Jazeera article provided more specific figures than the BBC article, talking about China's per capita income in 2009 and the specific number of people that aren't able to get social services because of the household registration system. The Al Jazeera article also mentioned a variety of suggestions that weren't in the BBC article, like improving relations with ethnic minorities. The BBC article was considerably shorter, focusing almost entirely on the talk of economic growth and the rich-poor gap. Altogether the Al Jazeera article seems to take a more optimistic stance on the event.

I think it's great that China is taking steps towards making these reforms. Improving quality of life for its citizens should always be a country's top priority. The only potential problem here is that not a lot of specifics were given as to how this economic growth would be used to benefit the poor, and I hope that in the near future there will be follow-up with a more specific plan in place.

//2/21/10// Australia has said that if its diplomatic negotiations with Japan do not succeed in preventing the near doubling of research whaling catches that was announced recently, then it will take Japan to court. International agreements prevent whaling, but allow the killing of a few whales for research purposes. Many, including Australia, have argued that Japan is abusing this allowance by killing excess whales and selling their meat commercially. Kevin Rudd, an Australian diplomat, has said that if they don't succeed in preventing the increase in their talks, Australia will "initiate that court action before the commencement of the whaling season in November 2010". Japan continues to deny that the meat of the whales they kill is used for anything but research.

Information retrieved from Al Jazeera English and BBC News. The articles had almost exactly the same titles, except that Al Jazeera said "whaling" instead of "whales". Both articles included pictures of whales, but Al Jazeera's picture showed a whale being killed, while BBC's just showed the tail of a whale in the water. The Al Jazeera artice takes quotes for Australia's side from Kevin Rudd, a diplomat who talks about stopping Japan from whaling entirely; but BBC's quotes are from John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, who discusses preventing Japan's planned increase in catches. Because of these things, the Al Jazeera article seems to be making a bigger deal out of Australia's announcement, despite saying that similar ones have been made in the past.

I'm not sure that anything will come out of this, since not only Australia but many other countries have been pressuring Japan to stop whaling for years and years with little success. However, I really hope that it works. I don't claim to know much about Japan's fish market, but I am pretty sure that ceasing the sale of whale meat wouldn't have much of an effect on their economy, considering that it's not one of their most widely-eaten types of seafood. There's really no good reason for them to be so stubborn about whaling.

//2/7/10// Cambodia has criticized Google maps' depiction of its border with Thailand. The map divides the Khmer temple between the two countries, which conflicts with a World Court ruling in 1962, which stated that the temple belonged to Cambodia. Cambodia called the map "professionally irresponsible". However, the border has been a subject of conflict between the two countries for years: a conflict that caused the deaths of four soldiers near the temple in 2008, and exchanges of fire as recent as January 29th.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera News] and [|AFP]. The two articles were very similar, but there was a large difference in the titles. The Al Jazeera article used the dramatic title "Cambodia outrage at Google map", while AFP had the more careful "Cambodia rebukes Google over disputed Thai border map". The AFP article also provided more specific examples of previous conflicts over the border, talking about the violence there, as well as mentioning that landmines in the area made marking a border difficult. Both of the articles used the quote, "We, therefore, request that you withdraw the already disseminated, very wrong and not internationally recognised map and replace it".

I think this is a very tough situation. In a dispute like this, someone is going to get angry, regardless of where you draw the border. Even so, I think it would have been a better decision to put the border the same place the '62 ruling did, because the argument over that already happened and I think people would be upset but not surprised.

//1/31/10// Pham Thanh Nghien, a Vietnamese writer and activist, has been found guilty of spreading anti-state propaganda, and will face 4 years in jail, as well as 3 years of house arrest. The arrest was initially said to be for the protest and two banners against the government's policies towards China she had at her house, but just before the trial, those charges were dropped, and changed to say that she had falsely accused the government of stealing money. She agreed to doing the things she was accused of at her trial, but insisted that they were legal.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera News] and [|BBC News]. The articles covered the same event, and provided the same reasons for her arrest, but Al Jazeera provided more information on the article she wrote that was called slander. The Al Jazeera article mentioned that 13 similar arrests had been made in the past three months, while BBC News said that there had been 4 in the past week. The BBC article showed a map of Vietnam, while the Al Jazeera article featured a picture of Pham Nghien.

It's blatantly obvious that the Vietnamese government is trying to suppress their citizens' speech, so I see no point in their denying it. I feel bad for Ms. Nghien, but at the same time I'm glad that she got off with a lighter sentence than many of the other people that were arrested.

//1/24/10// The Chinese government has denied involvement with a series of cyber attacks on Google, involving the hacking of Chinese human rights activists' email accounts and Google software coding. They called the claim "groundless", and argued that China's internet policy was clearly against this. In response to this and the censorship China insisted on when google.cn was created, Google has threatened to withdraw its Chinese server.

Information retrieved from [|CNN] and B[|BC News]. The sources were very similar, both seeming to take the stance that China's claims were not entirely reliable. This was evident in both of their titles ("China's government denies involvement in alleged cyber attack" and "China rejects claims of cyber attacks on Google"), and in the description of the attacks on Google. Both of them explained the attacks, China's denial, and China's censorship of Google. However, the BBC article went into more detail describing exactly what the attacks were, and included a statement by Hilary Clinton. Both of them included a picture of Google's China headquarters, although they were different pictures.

It's hard to tell who to believe in this situation, since I don't really know the history behind these events. I find it a little easier to believe Google, however, as they have no reason to make groundless accusations toward China, while the latter would naturally want to deny having done these attacks.

//12/5/09// Moussa Camara, the president of Guinea, was shot in an assassination attempt and has been brought to Morocco for treatment. Guinea's communication minister said that his wounds were not serious and that he was in good condition, but two anonymous sources reported that he had been shot in the head. The government named Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, the lieutenant thought to be responsible for the crackdown on protesters in September, as the suspect.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|CBS News]. As usual, the Al Jazeera article was much shorter than the CBS article. The CBS article had quotes from a variety of sources, including not only the Cherif statements the Al Jazeera article had as well, but also anonymous accounts of the president's condition. The CBS artcle also had a lot of background information about the September crackdown that Al Jazeera did not include (probably because its target audience would already know). Both of the articles featured pictures of Camara with soldiers, but at different locations.

I wasn't really surprised to hear that someone had retaliated against Camara for his actions in September, but the fact that the one who did it was the man thought responsible for the massacre is just plain strange. I want to follow this to find out why Diakite shot Camara.

//11/28/09// After fifteen months in captivity, two journalists in Somalia were freed from captivity with a $700,000 ransom. The two journalists, Canadian Amanda Linhoudt and Australian Nigel Brennan, are now in a hospital in Kenya. Brennan said he had been pistol whipped and in chains, and the two of them were kept separate and isolated at all times, moving from house to house while in captivity. The ransom's source was not identified, but the Canadian government was not involved in its payment; the ransom's amount was confirmed by a policeman and a lawmaker who remain anonymous.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|Yahoo! News]. The Al Jazeera article pictured a group of soldiers who presumably were involved in the kidnapping, while the Yahoo! News article had a picture of the two journalists that were freed. Most of the quotes and information in the Al Jazeera article revolved around Somalia and the kidnappers, but the article from Yahoo! News also had some commentary from Canadian and Australian authorities. The Al Jazeera article did not mention that the journalists had been admitted into a hospital after arriving in Kenya, presumably because that had not yet happened at the time of writing.

I'm glad the journalists were freed. Fifteen months is an unimaginably long time to be held in captivity. I'm not sure what to think about the Canadian government's actions. On the one hand, the fact that they didn't pay the ransom is probably why they were in captivity so long; on the other hand, journalism as a professions is always dangerous, and situations like this happen so frequently that governments really can't be expected to pay for release every time. It's a tough dilemma.

//11/21/09// According to Navfor, the EU's naval force, a Singaporean-owned tanker with a crew of 28 North Koreans has been hijacked by Somali pirates. The ship was headed towards Mombasa, Kenya, but its course has been changed towards north by the pirates. The tanker was off the coast of Seychelles, which is normally outside the territory of pirates, but the recent crackdown by world naval powers has forced them to move elsewhere. However, there are still more than 200 hostages held in ships off the coast of Somalia.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|BBC News]. The Al Jazeera article talked about why the pirates were in Seychelles in addition to the basic information of the event. The BBC article, which was much longer, went more into depth on the background of the situation with Somali pirates, and game more statistics related to the information. It also provided a Western point of view on the events. The BBC article had more pictures than the Al Jazeera article. Both of the articles also discussed how ransom has apparently been paid for a Spanish ship, and that it will be released shortly.

I remember reading an article about this recently. I think it's terrible that this is still going on. The pirates do not immediately resort to violence, but the intimidation they inflict on Somalia and the fact that people have gotten hurt in the process makes this all the worse.

//11/13/09// In Ivory Coast, 30,000 people have reported toxic waste poisoning from a sludge dump off the coast of the country. These people were promised $45 million in compensation. However, this money has been frozen in a local bank. Now Claude Gohourou, a self-appointed community representative, has applied for the money, backed by an unnamed but wealthy figure. The prosecutor suggested transferring the entire sum to his account. Meanwhile the lawyers of the victims say that they have been requested to meet with an Ivorian official to discuss interest payments on the money, and that in return the money will be unfrozen.

Information from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|Newstime Africa]. I found the Newstime Africa to me much more helpful. It described what the toxic waste poisoning was from, as well as the money's situation before it was frozen. The Al Jazeera article spent a considerably shorter time talking about the event, and did not mention Claude Gohourou's name, instead saying that he had not yet been identified due to intimidating the citizens. I assume this was the case for a short time before his identity was revealed.

I agree with Martyn Day, who was quoted as calling the situation "corrupt". I would like to see reasoning behind this other than trying to avoid giving the affected citizens their money, but I am having a hard time doing so. (This reminds me a lot of American health insurance.) I only hope that the money will be unfrozen as soon as possible.

//11/5/09// A vaccine for the African strain of malaria, which has been in development for 20 years, is now being tested in a clinical trial that will involve around 16,000 children. It has been in testing since 2003, but is now in its final stage and is expected to be released to the public in three to five years. Data from earlier trials yielded a 50 to 55 percent success rate, which certainly may seem low but is will significantly cut back the 1 million children in Africa that die from malaria yearly. Doctors hope to sell this vaccine as at low a price as possible, to save as many lives as possible. If successful, this will be the first ever vaccine against a human parasite.

Information retrieved from [|Al Jazeera English] and [|Yahoo! News]. The Al Jazeera article went into more detail on the event at hand, providing a large number of quotes from scientists, and provided a lot of statistics about the previous trials of the vaccine. The Yahoo! News article, on the other hand, provided accounts from individual scientists and families that had signed up their children for the trial, and most of their statistics focused on the prevalence of malaria in Africa and the importance of creating a vaccine for it.

I think it's wonderful that this vaccine is being created. I had always known that malaria was a huge issue in Africa, but until now I hadn't realized exactly what a toll it was taking on the population and the economy of so many countries. I think that the scientists who created this vaccine have done a wonderful thing and I hope that it passes the final trial.

//10/29/09// Two teenagers were executed in Somalia by Al-Shabaab gunmen, on the pretext of spying for the CIA. (Al-Shabaab is a terror organization that controls large areas in southern Somalia, and has claimed affiliation with Al-Qaeda.) The group claimed that the men had admitted in court, and were ruled guilty of "assisting the CIA" in the assassination of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan (an Al-Qaeda suspect) by Al-Shabaab judges. The accused were executed in the first public execution for spying by the group. Another man was accused of counterfeiting currency and was flogged at the same time.

Al-Shabaab has a strict regime in Somalia, having banned things such as movies, cell phone ringtones and soccer. Recently their courts have ordered such punishments as amputations and whipping. Since the beginning of 2007, an estimated 19,000 citizens have been killed in related fighting. Hundreds of people, including children, witnessed the execution.

Information retrieved from [|allAfrica.com] and [|Al Jazeera English]. The allAfrica article went into much more detail on the proceedings, explaining exactly what the teenagers were accused of and what happened in the trial. The Al Jazeera article had few statistics and specific details, but provided much more background information on Al-Shabaab's regime and the current situation in Somalia, such as death tolls, which was helpful for me in writing the summary.

Even ignoring the fact that teenagers would most likely not have any involvement with the CIA, let alone be members of it, it's horrible to think that people can be executed for such arbitrary and paranoid reasons. I find it especially worrying that Al-Shabaab control has been going on since the beginning of 2007, if not longer. There is no doubt in my mind that these men were innocent, and I hope something can be done about this.