Bissiri,+Natalie

10/29 In South Africa, the mayors are being told to be more resourceful. This is a result of recent violent protests. The protests are for things like clean water, electricity, and jobs. President Jacob Zuma recognizes that something needs to change, and he knows this will not fix all of the problems automatically, but it will help get set on the right track. President Zuma was publicly broadcasted covering these issues before a closed meeting with mayors all across South Africa.

I think it's great that the mayors are being told to do more for the country. It's clear that the living conditions are terrible, and it's right for citizens to protest, but I do agree with what Zuma said in that violent protesting is wrong. I also think that this is a great start, even if it may seem small now.

Both articles had good, fitting quotes, and neither had very detailed background information. But I thought that The Seattle TImes article, being smaller and more condensed was better. Overall, both articles seemed to have almost identical information on the subect, and similar takes on the event itself.

Sources: The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010097599_apafsouthafricazuma.html The Bellingham Herald: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/347/story/1121383.html

Peace Corps Returning to Sierra Leone**
 * 11/6

After around 15 or 16 years of it's absence, The Peace Corps is returning to Sierra Leone. Already volunteers are returning to Sierra Leone in June. Starting in 1962, 3,400 or more Americans have volunteered for the Peace Corps.

In my opinion, it is great that the Peace Corps is returning to Sierra Leone. After reading two articles on this subject I had a few questions though. I started thinking about The Peace Corps, and I was wondering how many countries don't have The Peace Corps currently aside from Sierra Leone? I also wanted to know what it is or was that made it possible for The Peace Corps to go back to Sierra Leone. Overall I think it's amazing that The Peace Corps is returning, and I hope that it continues to grow.

I Read articles on this topic from CNN.com and MSNBC.com. The two articles and very different data. In the CNN report, it was said that The Peace Corps has been gone from Sierra Leone for 15 years, but the MSNBC report says that it has been absent for 16 years. Another difference in data was how many volunteers there are to arrive in Sierra Leone. CNN.com says 40, and MSNBC says 50. Both reports seemed to have the same take on the situation, but I thought that the CNN report was better because it had quotes from people concerning the topic, and more information overall.

Sources: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/11/02/sierra.leone.peace.corps/index.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33590283/ns/world_news-africa/

11/13 In South Africa a young child was shot by a police officer. This has caused some upset among the government and how they are dealing with crime. The current police chief was instated by President Jacob Zuma to help fight against crime, but not to be "trigger happy".

I think that even though it may have been a good idea to try and reinforce the police, the recent increase in shootings by police officers may be a result of this. The police might be becoming more excited, or they might be too quick in thinking their life is in danger. In my opinion, whatever needs to be done to help stop these killings should be done.

I read articles from BBC and AfricanSeer. I thought the BBC article was definitely more informative. It provided a lot more background information, and it was less about the most recent shooting, and more about everything that's been happening lately and why. Both articles had some of the same quotes, but the BBC article had more quotes from people with different opinions on what has happened. I do think that the AfricanSeer did a good job of covering the story and explaining the importance of the event, but I liked that the BBC article had background information so that I could understand the situation better.

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8354961.stm http://www.africanseer.com/news/17721-Anger-South-Africa-police-shoot-toddler.html

11/20 The federal court of Ethiopia has found a group of Army officers guilty in plotting a coup and assassination attempts. The convicts are said to be part of a group called Ginbot seven. So far, 40 of 46 men that were accused were convicted. The 40 convicted men could receive the death penalty.

I think it's good that most of these men are being convicted. But I am interested in the group, Ginbot seven, and I would like to know more about what they are and what they do. I would also like to know how long ago the men were accused, and what the evidence was for the accusation. The BBC article I read on this subject said that the men were found guilty in trying to assassinate government officials as well as plotting a coup, so I would also like to know who they attempted to assassinate.

One major difference between the two articles I read was the number of men that were convicted. The BBC news article states that 26 men were convicted, but the Sudan Tribune says there are 27. The BBC article is also much more about the Ethiopian government dealing with the situation, and background information, while the Sudan Tribune article is more about the convicts and their background information. Personally, I liked both articles about the same, because they were both very different.

Sources: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article33190 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8369316.stm

11/27 Kidnapped Journalists freed

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan were freed after being held captive for 15 months. A ransom was paid for their release. They were kidnapped and held captive in Somalia. During this time they were both tortured, and kept apart. Somalia is a very dangerous for foreign journalists because of it's ineffective government. There have been other cases of foreign journalists or aid workers being kidnapped and held hostage until a ransom is paid.

I think that it's obviously very bad that people are being kidnapped, but I also don't know what can be done to stop it, unless the government in Somalia were to change. But since it hasn't been centralized or effective for up to 18 years, I wouldn't expect that to happen any time soon. Of course, I do hope that something is done to stop this. After reading these articles I was also curious as to how many cases there are of foreign journalists, or anybody being kidnapped and held in captivity until a ransom was paid.

The MSNBC article I read on this subject had a lot more quotes by the two journalists who were just released, but the AlJazeera article had more background information. The only big difference between the two articles was that the AlJazeera article stated that a ransom was paid for their release, but the MSNBC article says that that information would not be released. The MSNBC article also discussed the case of another journalists who was captured in Somalia. I would say that the articles were equally good. They both had the information necessary to complete their reports.

Sources: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34154598/ns/world_news-africa/ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/11/2009112665436604999.html

12/4

In the Darfur region of Sudan, Rwandan peacekeepers were attacked. Two were killed and three were injured. 20 peacekeepers were shot at. Since the conflict in Darfur began, Rights groups estimate 300,000 people killed. UNAMID, the UN operation in Darfur, had over 19,000 personnel in uniform in Darfur starting in October.

I think that it's bad that people are being killed, but, at least how the articles present this event, there doesn't seem to be a near end to the violence. If there were a way to solve this problem without causing violence, that would be the best solution, but I don't know that that is possible. But hopefully the conflict will eventually be resolved.

Of the two articles I read, I liked the BBC News article the best. It provided more background information and more facts. The MSNBC article I read was also good though because it provided a few quotes, and the BBC article did not. But I liked being able to catch up more easily, and understand the event better just by reading the BBC article, where with the MSNBC article I might have to research for myself some things.

Sources: BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8396544.stm MSNBC news: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34278461/

Somali pirates have recently hijacked multiple ships. The pirates have captured a freighter, a bulk carrier, and a chemical tanker. These ships were captured in spite of a foreign warship's presence. The Somali pirate's latest hijacking is that of the St James Park, which is a UK-flagged chemical tanker with a 26-man crew. These pirates have been raking in huge ransoms. Recently, they have collected $3.5 million for the releease of Dexinhai, a Chinese bulk carrier. All together, there is said to be around 250 seamen currently being held captive by the Somali pirates.
 * 12/11**

I think that it's obviously a problem that ships in these seas can just be hijacked like this. The pirates seem to be accomplishing what they want, by asking for ransoms in return for the release of their captives. I would be interested to know what the hijacking rates have been for the past couple of years, to see if it has increased or decreased at all. I hope that the pirates are caught and stopped, or else hijackings are going to continue to occur.

I read articles from BBC News and AlJazeera, of the two I like the AlJazeera article the best. The AlJazeera article had a lot more information, as well as more recent information. It was also a longer article, with more quotes. I thought that the two articles had very different information, because they seemed to focus on different things, but the AlJazeera article also had much more information.

The only major difference in information was that the BBC News article said two ships had been hijacked, while the AlJazeera article stated that there were three.

Sources: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8433438.stm?ad=1 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/12/2009122912345647141.html

1/15

Somali pirates have released the Maran Centaurus, a Greek tanker. A day before the release, a ransom of between $5.5m and $7m was paid. That is one of the largest ransoms that has been paid to the Somali pirates. The ransom may have started a fight among the pirates, and sources say that at least three of the pirates were killed.

The Maran Centaurus was captured in November, holding two million barrels of oil. It's crew consisted of 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian, totaling in 28 total. One of the pirates did make sure to say to news agencies that all of the crew members were safely returned.

When the Maran Centaurus was captured, it was sailing in the Indian Ocean, very close to the Seychelles, only 800 miles away from Somalia. Because Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, this allows pirates to work along its coast without being penalized.

In my opinion, that pirates can keep doing this, as they will continue to do, is pretty frightening. It's really unfortunate that the Somalian pirates can operate in the Indian Ocean, near Somalia, just because their government is dysfunctional. This is just one of many ships that has been hijacked and then demanded a ransom for it's safe return, so I feel that if the government hasn't found a way to fix this problem yet, they might not be able to fix it at all. I read articles from BBC News and AlJazeera, and I found that the information the two presented were virtually the same. All of the specific data was completely the same. Though there were some differences in content between the two articles. The BBC News article seemed to focus more on this specific incident, while the AlJazeera article focused more on the Somali pirates in genera. For example, the BBC News has a quote from a resident, describing bodies of Somalian pirates that got in a fight over the ransom money. The AlJazeera article says nothing about there being a fight, and has no quotes aside from one from a pirate. I would say that I liked the BBC Article more, just because I already knew some about the Somalian pirates, and it was more interesting for me to hear about this specific incident. But both articles were still very good.

Sources: 1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8464921.stm 2. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/01/20101187562636313.html

1/29

China is enraged because of the U.S' decision to $6.4 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan. China says that this deal will cause damage to co-operations with the two nations. In response to this move, China has imposed sanctions on the firms that are involved. China also says that this could endanger their national security and internal affairs.

Earlier in 2008, former president George Bush approved a $6.5 billion arms package to Taiwan. After this, China stopped almost all of their military relations with the U.S. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington says that this weapon deal violated the 1982 communique between the United States and China.

I think that the U.S was wrong in their actions. What they did endangers China's national security, and they have every right not to sit by and let this happen. China may have acted harshly in response to the United States, but it is justified. If it is true that the U.S violated a communique, this is even more reason that what they did was wrong.

I read one article by AlJazeera, and one by Reuters. I liked the AlJazeera article better, it was shorter, but I thought it covered everything and was very concise. The Reuters article was also good, but, to me it seemed a little long and had more information than was necessary. The titles of the two articles give them different vibes. The AlJazeera article is entitled, "China attacks US-Taiwan arms deal." and the Reuters title is, "China fumes after U.S. arms sales to Taiwan." From the Aljazeera title, I figured that China was pretty angry over what happened, so much that they "attacked" it, but from the Reuters title all I pulled was that China was upset.

Sources: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/01/20101300551284137.html http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6100C720100201