World Newsbriefs
November 24, 2005
Japanese princess loses title, gains husband
November 15 marked a significant day in Japan for both Princess Sayako and the Royal Family as Princess Sayako married commoner and childhood friend Yoshiki Kuroda. This is the first time an emperor’s daughter has ever married a commoner.
The chief priest of the Ise Shrine in central Japan performed the ceremony according to the Shinto-style ritual. Only 31 individuals attended the ceremony, including the emperor and empress, while 120 guests attended the reception, including Sayako’s parents and brothers Akishino and Crown Prince Naruhito. An estimated 6,000 people turned out to watch the short motorcade from the palace to the hotel as a sign of support.
The princess was forced to give up her title due to the 1947 law that strips female royals of their title when married, and prevents them from ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne. But due to opinion polls that show overwhelming support for Sayako, Japan is on the verge of reverting back to the pre-1947 system which allowed women to assume the throne. For Sayako Kuroda, however, Tuesday marked the beginning of a new life as a commoner and a wife.
France Rocked by Riots
Over the past few weeks France has come face to face with a social crisis after over 9,000 cars were torched in riots throughout the country. The rioting has affected more than 270 cities across France as Franco-Arab adolescents have rallied together to fight against the social, economical and racial oppression that has become rampant in France.
In order to control the mayhem of the rioting, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has responded with an attitude of “firmness” by enacting state of emergency laws that allow local authorities to impose curfews, conduct door to door searches, and ban public gatherings.
According to BBC reports, President Jacques Chirac has promised cabinet members that the extraordinary powers are “strictly temporary and will only be applied where they are strictly necessary.” Also, President Chirac hopes to create new jobs in order to better combat the “poison” of racism that has infiltrated the social-economic state of France.
However, one commentator remarked that Sarkozy’s response has only added to the problem “by dismissing the ghetto youth in the most insulting, racist terms [while] calling for tough repression.” The opinion polls in France reflect a negative reaction towards Chirac and his policies; however, the world will wait to see if Sarkozy and Chirac’s responses put an end to the rioting or if it will only compound the issue of inequality and racism.
11 Jordan Officials Resign in Wake of Terrorist Attacks
King Abdulah II of Jordan accepted the resignation of 11 of his top advisors, including his national security advisor, in response to the terrorist attacks that killed 58 people last week at a hotel in Amman. In response, Abdulah will take new security measures in order to have more control over foreigners traveling in and out of the country, including legislation that will allow the detaining of suspects for interrogation.
The four suicide bombers responsible for the attacks were associated with Al Queda in Mesopotamia. However, they were led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, who formerly recruited Jordanians but now recruits Iraqi insurgents to carry out terrorist acts in Jordan. Since Zarqawi operates out of Iraq and recruits Iraqi people, Jordanian officials have more difficulty intercepting Zarqawi’s intelligence. King Abdullah plans to try to sway the silent Muslim populace to rise up against these acts of terrorism and hate.
Abdullah’s campaign against terrorism was bolstered on Sunday night by the capture of a fourth bomber, a woman named Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi. Rishawi, 35, confessed to walking into the hotel on the night of the attack with the intent to detonate a bomb. But when her belt failed to detonate, she fled south to a relative’s house, who then turned her in to authorities.
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5 Responses to “World Newsbriefs”
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How is this relevant to our school and our society today? It doesn’t make any sense. And why does Sense get like 8 pages of news when news itself gets cut? And besides, its all about wierd artists and stuff like that. And hey, I know I help out the Sense people every once in a while but they don’t deserve 4 pages of stuff about stuff. Like the 90’s Mixtape? What the heck is up with that.
You even gave Sense the full spread center for Fresh, on rap. It shoulda been on the student missions trip to New Orleans and had their reflections and photos. This newspaper is supposed to be student oriented - what’s up with all this stuff on music and tunes and vibe. Most of the music is punk and rap oriented. Music isn’t news.
Why did news get cut pages again. Ya I know I write for Mars’ Hill but you know what, I am ticked that News got cut and Sense got the full spread when the New Orleans trip was a huge impact in our school and it was barely recognized. That’s what I am most upset about. Why isn’t there more info on New Orleans and stuff like that? And missions around campus?
I hear your concerns. Probably the best thing you could have done to contribute to a solution of what you see as the problem was to do exactly what you have done. Thank you for expressing your frustrations. I won’t speak for the entire MH editorial board and their decision to assign a certain number of pages to whatever section, but I know that your opinion matters to them. It makes a difference. Keep participating in the discussion, and get your friends in on it as well.
Personally, I also would love to see more news-oriented journalism in each issue. Hopefully the news section will grow as the paper grows and more people come forward to write and report. Still, I think that the center spread (Spotlight) was very well done and helped me to see into a world that I hardly know exists. I think that these kinds of “perspective opening” articles, so to speak, have the potential of affecting a lot of people on this campus.
Also, try listening to Goa.
Thanks for the comments E, as another member of the e-board, I totally agree with Tim when he says that we value your opinions. As far as the Sense spotlight concept, we had been planning this one since the beginning of the year and because it had a Sense vibe, we put it around the Spotlight. It wasn’t specifically a Sense Spotlight. We have tried to find a place for all kinds of coverage in the Mars’ Hill. Some people have asked for world news, so we tried that out last issue. Sometimes articles do get cut or shortened, and those decisions are hard to make, but it’s not because they are less important.
Please keep dialoguing with us. We need to hear from you.
I’m going to have to agree with E on this one. I don’t know why MH is trying so hard to plug SENSE when half the student body is SENSE-less (no pun intended). That is, nobody I have encountered really looks forward to the SENSE section. We have 7 pages dedicated to no name artists and one editor who writes all the articles for those whoknowswho? artists. It simply makes no SENSE. I too write for the MH and I ame extremely dissatisifed with the misuse of quality papers that could go (and should go) to the news section, academia, community, and then politica. Heck, I’d even read a 2 page article by Mr. Gilbert before I fumble my fingers attempting to flip through the SENSE section as fast as possible.
As for the ‘perspectivism’ argument in defense of SENSE, I find that to be definitely plausible, however, would you rather expand your perspective by reading Ziggy Funk Flash or New Orleans victims you never knew existed? Its one thing for MH to report on things that matter and expand not just our perspectives but also our hearts in the process.
So, I write on this forum today on behalf of the SENSELESS, on behalf of those that don’t give two cents (or would pay two cents) about Ziggy and the Gang and how they personify Christ with the G chord. I write today as an activists, an activist against the wastage of paper that could go to other sections who have a lot more to offer us, sections that already make SENSE.
Make it happy MH, I believe in you to do the right thing
-”would you rather expand your perspective by reading Ziggy Funk Flash or New Orleans victims you never knew existed”-
Antisensemen like Mr. ASM often mistake the Mars Hill for its counterpart in crime, the regular daily newspaper. I cringe to think of Miss Little Red Riding Hood (or her equally guilty counterpart, Peter Pan… must make things gender equal) sitting in her room at TWU missing out on the news that New Orleans is sinking simply because MH covered a flash of ziggy funkyness instead of informing her about a national disaster! Is it not a little too presumptuous to assume that the majority of MH’s readers turn to the MH to find out how many victims “never existed”? Antisensemen (and their female counterparts) ought to be more pro-active in this by promoting the readership of major news outlets as a way of getting in touch with current events that are broadly reported. It’s the specific niche of TWU content that MH can cover proficiently (and for which it deserves credit).
I sense however (no pun intended…) that a turf war takes place each time the centrefold piece is selected. If I could weigh in momentarily on this particular debate, it would seem that the students of TWU had ample opportunities to hear from the New Orleans people through the chapel session and through the other reporting that took place. I’m not convinced that I would’ve read a whole spread on what took place because there are numerous blogs out there detailing the events of the trip and other forms of communication that are better suited to telling the stories!
Finally, to come back for a moment to the world news coverage, I’m concerned by the fact that the editorial board of the MH is faced with the impossible task of adequately skimming through 2 weeks worth of international news in the hope of appropriately informing students “what went on in the world”. It’s prepostorous to assume that it could ever be sufficiently covered!
Though…. a good centre fold would be an exploration of the major news sites available online! Breaking it into Int’l, Nat’l, American, BC and other provinces, Langley, and TWU and providing brief descriptions of each applicable site would be really awesome!!! For example, the International Herald Tribune has an awesome site, as does Reuters, and multiple other sites, and so it could be a great way to see what’s out there! (anyone ever read the oddly enough section of reuters? it’s hilarious!)