Anderson,+Jena


 * Egypt-Algeria World Cup anger turns violent in Cairo**

In Cairo, Egypt, Egyptian protesters gathered in front of the Algerian Embassy with lots of anger towards the Egypt defeat by Algeria in the World Cup qualifiers match in Sudan on Wednesday, the score was 0 - 1. The Egyptian protesters yelled obscenities, threw stones, overturned cars, and burned Algerian flags. 35 people were reported to be injured, 11 of those were police and officers. What triggered this violent demonstration was that at the match on Wednesday, Egyptian fans were attacked as they left the stadium. "We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us," university student Amr Higazi told Agence France Presse. Egypt has treatened to quit international soccer temporarily concerning the Algerian fans behaviors that put Egyptian fans, officials, and players lives at risk. If Egypt does not follow through with their threat to quit, they might face Algeria again in three months in the Cup of African Nations.

The article from BBC was well focused on everything; the protest and the attacks at the soccer game, while in The Hindu most of the article was describing the protest, even the title of The Hindu article was "Angry football fans riot in Cairo".

I think both Egypt's and Algeria's behaviors are inappropriate. At the game (which was held in a nuetral country--Sudan) the fans were out of control and out of line to attack each other, especially Algeria who won the game in the first place. I kind of hope Egypt takes a break from International Soccer so they don't have to play Algeria, because no doubt it'll be even more violent that the first game. I think the BBC coverage of the event was very good, though in the beginning of the article it made Egypt just sound like sore losers. The Hindu was pretty good as well, despite most of the article was about the violent protest.

links: []

[]


 * Somali pirates capture huge tanker taking oil to US**

Just 800 miles from the coast of Somalia, Somali pirates capture a huge tanker taking oil to the US. Piracy is common along the coast of Somalia so foriegn navies have been sent to patrol the coast and try to prevent pirates capturing any ships. But now the pirates are attacking further away from the coast, and creating difficulties for the navies to counter act them.

Both articles I read about this were very good, though I liked the New York Times article better because it had more information. BBC had very good information as well, but a lot of it seemed to be irrelevant like what nationalities the crew members were. A lot of it was quotes too. The BBC did have more precise information than the NY Times.

I think something needs to be done about Somalia, because this wasn't the first time Somali pirates took capture of a tanker. If there was some project in Somalia to help living conditions and get people good and well paying jobs so they can support their families, there would probably be less need for Somali people to go out and take big ships for ransom.

links: []

[]


 * Guinea president 'favourable' after head surgery**

Guinea's president Moussa Dadis Camara was shot by ex-aide de camp Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, who appears to be leading a faction that wants to take over government. Vice-President Sekouba Konate is temporarily in charge as Moussa Dadis Camara was flown to Morocco for head surgery. Doctors report that even though Camara was shot in the head he'll be perfectly fine once he recovers.

The Washington Post went more into detail about the assassin while the BBC went more into detail about the politics and the attempt to restore democracy to Guinea.

Camara is an illegitment president because he got power because of a coup a year ago. I think Toumba's faction would (maybe) be better for Guinea because they'll bring democracy, though I don't think assassination is the right way to do it. It's amazing that Camara didn't die from being shot in the head, but it's nice that he's going to be okay.

links: []

[]


 * Anti-gay bigots plunge Africa into new era of hate crimes**

Uganda is passing a law that will give the death penalty as punishment for homosexuality. They believe homosexuals seek to take over the world with their culture and promote divorce, HIV/AIDS, abortion, child molestation, and sex with animals. There is also negitivity towards the Western culture. Uganda blames homosexuality in Africa on the Western influence, despite historical evidence that homosexuality was present in Africa long before Europeans arrived. They think Ugandan gays are being paid by U.S. gays to recruit children into the homosexual lifestyle, and claim it's endangering the future of the children and must be stopped. "As far as gay rights are concerned, it would appear that much of Africa is going backwards." -The Guardian

The Huffington Post article was outragously long. It had more quotes than the Guardian did and more information about the anti-gay conference in Uganda, and also seemed to be making fun of the issue. The Huffington Post had a lot of quotes by Scott Lively, author of The Pink Swastika (a book which compares homosexuals to Nazis) illustrating how 'evil' gay people are, while The Guardian also had Scott Lively quoted, but he seemed more neutral than he was percieved in The Huffington Post. The Guardian and the Huffington Post both had very good coverage and information from both sides.

I think Uganda should calm down! It's not a big deal, and it's completely outragous that they're going to give someone the death penalty just because they tend to like people who are the same sex as them. I think it's ridiculous that they think being gay will negatively impact childrens futures. Well, I suppose it might if they'll be killed for being gay, but honestly, gay people function exactly the same in society as straight people do. It's just their love life, and the government should stay out of it. They should find better things to do than come up with more ways to lower the population.

links: []

[]


 * Guinea leader should be tried for massacre**

The Human Rights Watch says Capt Moussa Dadis Camara should be held responsible for the massacre in the Conakry stadium in september, when the Junta opened fired at the protesters. The ICC might get involved in the case, the Human Rights Watch says that the massacre was a crime against humanity, soliders allegidly beat and killed protesters and publicly raped women. Then afterwards they moved the bodies to a secret mass burial. Currently Camara is in the hospital because he was shot by his aide Lt Toumba Diakite. Lt Toumba Diakite said he did it because Camara was going to blame the massacre on him.

The BBC and AFP had slightly different facts, like in the BBC it said the Junta said 57 people died, while in the AFP it said the Junta said 56 people died. Both articles say that 157 people died, but the BBC also added that the New York-based rights group said between 150 and 200 people were killed. But only the AFP mentioned the official UN death toll of 150. Both articles had good information in all, but the AFP had better details. Though the BBC did have quotes from witnesses while the AFP didn't have any, but I had a good enough idea about how horrible the event was already so it didn't make much of a difference to me.

I think Camara should go to jail! On top of conducting this horrible massacre which killed more than a hundred people, he tried to put the blame on someone else. I feel sad that all those people had to die. As of the articles, I liked the AFP because they answered my questions and had better details and information than the BBC, also regarding the slight difference of facts I felt like I could trust the AFP more because the image the BBC had was supplied by AFP, so that meant that the AFP was on scene during the event.

links: []

[]


 * China says ship crew rescued from Somali pirates**

A chinese cargo ship carrying coal was traveling from South Africa to India was hijacked by Somali pirates about 700 miles east of Somalia on October 19th. The chinese crew was reported to all have been safely returned in early December. China didn't mention anything about paying ransom to the pirates, but it's suspected they paid the Somali pirates $4 million.

Both articles were decent, but pretty short. The Reuters article had more information than the NY times. Also they had different titles, Reuters title didn't make sense. Also Reuters had a picture of a cargo ship while the NY times didn't have any pictures.

I think it's good that the chinese crew were rescued, and hopefully the $4 mill China paid to the Somali pirates will last them awhile so they won't hijack anymore ships. I've heard that there's a lot of navies patroling the Somali coast to prevent pirates capturing passing ships, yet we still hear about Somali pirates in the news all the time. What is the Somalia government doing about the pirates?

links: []

[]


 * South Africa's president, in New Year's message, urges country to unite behind World Cup**

Hosting the World Cup has made 2010 the most important year for South Africa since 1994. They've started construction on new stadiums and roads for the half a million visitors they're expecting. With the profit from the World Cup, President Jacob Zuma plans to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and fund anti-retroviral drugs.

The Canadian Press compared to the Guardian was really wimpy and lacking of information. The Guardian was much longer and had more information, also went into much more depth about South Africa's past and politics while the Canadian Press just mentioned how nice the World Cup will be.

I think the World Cup will boost South Africa's economy, and that's really great! woooo. I liked the Guardian article much more than the Canadian Press, because it had more information.

links: []

[]


 * India ups alert level, tightens air security**

India recieved a threat from Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba that they were going to hijack an Indian plane. Following the warning, India immediatly tightened up all airport security since they've had a bad history with terrorist attacks.

Both articles were good and had the same information. Though in both it was sortof unclear what exactly was going on.

I think it's good that India is taking the threats seriously. It's better safe than sorry.

links: []

[]


 * Clinton Warns China on Iran Sanctions**

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, went to China and said that if they don't stand against Iran's nuclear program with the United States that China could face economic insecurity and diplomatic isolation. China imports oil from Iran, and has said that they'd rather continue negotiating with them than sanctions.

Both articles were very good, though the AFP article was more objective than the NY times. The AFP was also easier to understand.

In my opinion I think China should do the sanction thing with the USA because not doing so could cause implications for the future.

links: []

[]


 * "Moderate" 5.0 Earthquake Shakes Southwest China**

Sichuan, China, was hit by a 5.0 earchquake at the end of January at 5:30 in the morning. 11 people were injured and 1 person died. The quake caused $4.4 million in damages and destroyed more than a 100 buildings. This quake was very moderate compared to the quake they had in May, 2008 which was a magnitude of 8.0 and killed roughly 87,000 people.

Both articles had similar information though some was different, like in the UKpress it said the earthquake measured 5.2 and the earthquake in May, 2008 measured 7.9 while the AHN said 5.0 and 8.0. Also in the UKpress they said that 90,000 were either dead or missing from the quake in May, while the AHN said it was 87,000 were killed (not missing though) and it was supported by the BBC.

I'm glad that not that many people died in the earthquake. Do big earthquakes happen a lot? I feel like I'm hearing about them more and more in the news. It's sad when they're still trying to rebuild from the earthquake that happened last May, another earthquake hits and causes MORE damage. They should earthquake proof their buildings so they can stand during an earthquake.

links: []

[]