Susan Boyle album sets pre-order record on Amazon

Amazon said that Boyle’s album was not only the top CD pre-order in the United States, but also the biggest around the world in the 14-year history of it’s web site.

Obama in Asia - building block or bow?

“The United States is a big power that became used to having it’s way,” said Liu Jiangyong, a professor of East Asian security affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Please tell whoever is responsible that “history of it’s website” should not have an apostrophe .. If Reuters gets such a basic thing wrong then we are all in trouble !!!

Mackenzie

Would you please inform your writers and editors that the possessive form of the word “it” does not have an apostrophe? It’s with an apostrophe means “it is”.

P.J.R.

I have never bothered to write any news organization about anything, but seeing such an amateur grammar mistake by what I have considered to be a a solid source of news and analysis for many years was too much. This is truly sad.

English is my third language and I still cringe at this kind of mistake.

Vlad G.

Sigh. This mistake, which we make way too often, drives readers crazy: GBU Editor

Celtic supporter Susan Boyle waves to the crowd at half time during their Europa League soccer match against Hamburger FC at Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, October 22, 2009. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

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Obama gets five minutes with half-brother in China

“It’s no secret that my father was a troubled person. Anybody who’s read my first book, ‘Dreams of My Father’, knows that, you know, he had an alcoholism problem and that he didn’t treat his families very well,” the president said.

Regarding your article about President Obama meeting briefly with his half-brother in China, you listed the name of his book incorrectly as “Dreams OF My Father.” The correct title of the book is “Dreams FROM My Father.”

F.W.

Several readers pointed this one out to us. We corrected it. Interestingly, several other news organizations made the same mistake: GBU Editor

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In your video section is a “new” video about the arrest of a top sicilian mafia boss. The title of the video is: Top Sicilian Mafia Boss Arrested.

Now the big problem is, near the end of the video you are showing the face of one of the police agents (I think he is a police agent).

You can see that this agent shortly before he puts his “mask” on the face, (all other agents also have a “mask” on the face) so that no one can recognize him.

I think you are showing the scene in error, because this can be very dangerous for this police agent. Please take action against this fault.

M.P.

This clip was picked up from Sky Italia, who must have used it as well on their domestic broadcasts. We trust the senior producers on the ground to signal if there is a problem using any video that has been sent from a bureau: GBU Editor

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He called Eastwood, whose line “Come on, make my day” from Dirty Harry became a global catchphrase, “a myth, a giant, an example of the admiration we have for American culture.”

Jim S.

Several readers noticed that one. We corrected: GBU Editor

U.S. director and actor Clint Eastwood reacts after he was named as a Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris,  November 13, 2009.  REUTERS/Thibault Camus/Pool

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Conoco says Sweeny compressor shut during FCC start up

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips said on Thursday a hydrogen purification unit compressor shut briefly in association with start-up of a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker at its Sweeny, Texas, refinery.

“The compressor was brought back on-line as soon as possible,” Conoco said in a filing with the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, but added that some residual flaring occurred while units were stabilizing.

I am getting sick of seeing your news organization refer to ConocoPhillips as Conoco. The merger occurred over SEVEN years ago. It is disgusting that this continues to happen so persistently. I’ve contacted Reuters on more than one occasion about this.

Kidnapped Irish priest freed in Philippines

MANILA (Reuters) – An Irish priest kidnapped in the southern Philippines a month ago was freed unharmed on Thursday, a senior church official and members of a Muslim rebel group said.

They said Michael Sinnott, a 78-year-old Columban priest who was snatched from the garden of a church on Oct 11, was handed over to police and government officials in the city of Zamboanga in the southern region of Mindanao shortly before dawn.

This is faulty editing. This article discusses the release of a priest held captive by rebels. However, the article claims the priest was “Columban.”

This means that the priest is from Columbus, Ohio? If he is from the South American country the word should be spelled Colombian.

M.M.

I believe the priest in question is neither from Columbus, Ohio, nor from the South American country of Colombia. As our lede said, he is Irish.

He is also from the Missionary Society of Saint Columban, and is therefore a Columban priest: GBU Editor

Irish priest Michael Sinnott speaks to the media upon his arrival at the Villamor air base in Manila, November 12, 2009. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

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The sound or volume of your advertisements are much louder than your news clips. I work in an office and I have to constantly raise the volume to hear the news clip and react quickly to very loud ads.

Please fix this. I really appreciate the news coverage.

Office Worker

We’re working on a fix that will be deployed around Nov 23: GBU Editor

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A Morgan Stanley star falls in China

Interviews with those who know and have worked with him say his story is one of an ambitious and hard-working expatriot who appears to have crossed the line in his zeal to get ahead in the Chinese business world.

In the story on Garth Peterson he is called an ‘expatriot’ which would make him a Benedict Arnold or a turncoat. Given the context of the story it would seem the correct word would be ‘expatriate,’ defined as a person who has withdrawn from his native land, but not a former citizen or supporter.

E.S.D.

This is not a question. The word “expatriate” is misspelled as “expatriot.” This should have been caught by an automatic spelling-checker.

Young

Yes, or caught by a human editor.

A street sign stands near the Morgan Stanley worldwide headquarters building in New York May 8, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

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Clinton wishes he had left White House “in a coffin”

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Monday he would have preferred to leave the White House in a coffin because he loved being commander in chief, but signaled his political life was over.

“It’s good that we have a (term) limit. Otherwise I would have stayed until I was carried away in a coffin. Or defeated in an election,” Clinton said at a conference in Istanbul. “I loved doing the job.”

Clinton won two terms in office, the maximum under the constitution, and served from 1992 to 2000.

Your story contains a rather obvious factual error, that he served in office 1992-2000. He was elected in 1992, and took office in January 1993, as you undoubtedly know.

Whether you want to put the end date as up until the inauguration in 2001 or to call it 2000 is probably a judgment call, but I don’t think there should be any question about citing 1993 as the beginning of his presidency.

Get it Right

Clinton saying:”It’s good that we have a (term) limit. Otherwise I would have stayed until I was carried away in a coffin. Or defeated in an election,” is NOT the same as saying: Clinton wishes he had left White House “in a coffin”

That’s a ghoulish way to interpret that.

Amazed

We corrected the dates to 1993-2001.

Several readers also felt our headline was too much of a stretch, given the facts in the story. They have a fair point: GBU Editor

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton listens before giving a lecture in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 5, 2009. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

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Rihanna describes night of attack by Chris Brown

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Rihanna broke her silence on Friday about the night her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown attacked her, saying he had bitten her, put her in a headlock and left her bleeding and swollen.

Her screams prompted a bypasser to call the police.

The little things distinguish good writing from mediocre. In this article, the writer refers to a person assisiting Rihanna as “a bypasser.” I’m guessing that word is not even in the writer’s Spell Check!

It is not a big jump from passer-by to bypasser, I admit, but it makes reading difficult when you stumble on a made up word.

Christopher F.

We should not be in the business of making up words and shouldn’t have used this one: GBU Editor

Singer Rihanna poses for photographers as she arrives at the British premiere of “Inglourious Basterds” at Leicester Square in London July 23, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

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