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24 Jul 2010 13:46

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Music, World: Love Parade tragedy: German music festival’s line turns deadly

  • 15+ people were killed at the Love Parade festival in Germany
  • 40+ people were injured while in the festival’s crushing line source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2010 13:41

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Music, World: Love Parade tragedy: Mass panic blamed for festival stampede

Apparently something spooked the crowd of German techno fans, leading to the mass stampede. The festival appears to not be going on anymore. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Jul 2010 09:44

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World: The “Sons of Iraq” the main targets of deadly suicide blast

  • 43+ killed by the attack aimed at the Sunni militia group source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jul 2010 10:17

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World: Uganda’s World Cup excitement shattered by deadly blasts

  • If you want to fight, why don’t you attack soldiers or military installations instead of fighting innocent people watching football?
  • Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni • On the attacks that killed at least 74 people, including one American. One of the attacks – which had multiple blasts – occurred in the capitol, Kampala, while people were watching the World Cup final yesterday on a big-screen TV at a rugby center. The other took place 50 minutes earlier in a popular restaurant district. Another 71 were hospitalized in the attacks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jul 2010 11:13

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World: The DR Congo oil tanker explosion looks pretty freaking scary

Despite early word that UN peacekeepers died in the incident, the organization says no UN members were involved. The current count: 230 dead, 190 injured. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jul 2010 11:37

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U.S.: Snaps: The Democratic Republic of Congo oil blast, underplayed?

  • We needed a new feature, and we think we have a pretty good one. Basically, we’re going to take a big story and see how it’s being covered on the front page of major news sites. Is it getting underplayed? Overplayed? This time around, We’re tackling the horrific oil tanker blast in Congo, which is new enough that a lot of people haven’t heard about it (it broke in the middle of the night in the U.S.). Otherwise, it’s a slow news day. On the downside, though, the story has no art, which might hurt its play. Let’s compare:
  • BBC: Top of the pageAs might be expected, considering the nature of the very deadly incident, BBC gave it top-of-the-front-page treatment.
  • CNN: Secondary lead storyWhile it was CNN’s top news story for a while (and worthy of an alert), it was replaced by a story about slain cops.

 

  • New York Times: BuriedThe New York Times, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to give it display play, instead putting it in their wire-stories-only slot.
  • Google News: right at the topGoogle News, which chooses its stories by computer algorithms, gave it much nicer coverage, just above Serena Williams.

 

  • MSNBC: Huge headlineMSNBC.com made the story their main news item with a huge headline, while giving Serena Williams art play off to the side.
  • Fox News: BuriedFox News buried the story even further than the New York Times did, preferring instead to lead with Joe Biden’s visit to Iraq.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jul 2010 10:23

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World: In the Congo, an awful tragedy involving an oil tanker and a cigarette

  • It started with a tipped-over oil tanker in the democratic republic of congo. As is common in the region, people tried to collect the spilled fuel from the tanker (around the tiny town of Sange, in South Kivu province), which can lead to explosions. And some dude was smoking a cigarette. And, worse, the explosion happened near a bar. During a World Cup game. … *shudder*. The result? Unspeakably awful. We’re talking bodies burned beyond recognition. Some quick numbers:
  • 230+ number of people killed in the blast
  • 190+ number of people injured by the tanker
  • no there aren’t photos of the incident yet source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Jun 2010 10:18

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World: Yikes: China floods leave at least 136 dead or missing

The flash floods in southern China led to the evacuation of 757,000 people. The economic cost? $1.47 billion. Holy crap. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jun 2010 10:37

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World: Were the Kyrgyzstan riots orchestrated by the ousted leader?

  • It was a carefully planned operation conducted by the enemies of the interim government. The information available to our special services confirms that all of these measures were funded by the Bakiyev family, particularly his youngest son, Maksim Bakiyev.
  • Kyrgyzstan interim first deputy head Alzambek Atambayev • Claiming that the deadly riots were caused by the son of ousted leader, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev. The arrest of Maksim Bakiyev in Britain today supports this theory. Atambayev also said that the interim leadership has had trouble handling the crisis, partly due to the fact that some police in the southern part of the country were still loyal to the old government. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jun 2010 11:33

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World: Post-coup, Kyrgyzstan falls into another state of emergency

  • 65+ number of people killed in a spate of ethnic violence between Uzbek and Kyrgyz youths that bubbled over Thursday night
  • 500+ number of people hospitalized; a curfew has been set and Roza Otunbayeva has asked Russia for assistance source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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