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 Given the context of the story it would seem the correct word would be ‘expatriate,’ defined as a person who has withdrawn from his native land, but not a former citizen or supporter.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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Motive probed for US army shooting rampage

KILLEEN, Texas, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Investigators searched for the motive on Friday behind a mass shooting at a sprawling U.S. Army base in Texas, in which an Army psychiatrist trained to treat war wounded is suspected of killing 13 people.

The suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States of immigrant parents, was shot four times by police, a base spokesman said. He was unconscious but in stable condition.

I was wondering why, in the article about the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting, he was identified as, “Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States” and the article about the Orlando gunman did NOT identify his religion?

I think this type of reporting perpetuates negative, stereotypes that label people inappropriately, there are plenty of murderers of all religions that are not immediately identified with a specific religion in the headline news. In fact, their religion is usually NOT used as an identifier.

Old Crabber

It is our policy not to use race, religion, etc. in a story unless it is relevant to the events. In this case, our story said the gunman had yelled “Allahu Akbar” — Arabic for “God is Greatest” — just before the shooting, which in my mind justifies mentioning his religion.

Further, the story also quoted the man’s cousin as saying he had complained, as a Muslim, of harassment by fellow soldiers, another detail which makes religion a relevant detail: GBU Editor

Major Nidal Malik Hasan. REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout

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U.N. agency hunts for microscopic nuclear clues

SEIBERSDORF, Austria (Reuters) - A hotchpotch set of grey and white buildings huddled in fields outside Vienna may seem an unlikely setting for a laboratory which could help uncover illicit nuclear activity.

Please tell your writer it’s “hodgepodge” not “hotchpotch”

R.W.

Actually, it can be either, although hodgepodge is more common here in the United States: GBU Editor

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson listens to a question from the audience as he speaks at the Treasury Department in Washington March 31, 2008. Paulson revealed sweeping new plans on Monday for streamlining a hodgepodge of regulation faulted for permitting the U.S. mortgage crisis to balloon into a full-blown economic threat. REUTERS/Jason Reed

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Ford Hood shooting suspect still alive, Army says

KILLEEN, Texas, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The suspect in a shooting rampage at Ford Hood Army post on Thursday in which 12 people were killed and 31 wounded is in a hospital in stable condition, contrary to previous reports he had been killed, an Army general said.

Shooting at “Ford Hood”? I believe the Army uses the alternate spelling, F-o-r-t. This was a featured link on Google News highlights so I am sure lots of people saw it.

I had to look three times to make sure it wasn’t a joke on purpose. You know, hood possibly being an automobile component and Ford being an auto manufacturer just made it funny to me.

J.B.

Ouch. Not a great week for headline editing, if you look at the two items before this one as well. Yes, this one did get noticed: GBU Editor

Major Nidal Malik Hasan. REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout

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Brussels set to complain over Oracle’s deal to by Sun-FT

I am sure someone has made you aware of this ERROR…. The word you want is BUY.

Kelly

Yes. Readers did, as you say, make us aware of this one: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo Robert Galbraith

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Canada takes step to scrapping long-run registry

OTTAWA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Canada took a step on Wednesday to scrapping a controversial gun registry, though rules will still remain much tougher than in the United States.

It’s Canada’s long-GUN registry, not “run.”

Tim

Indeed: GBU Editor

Ziad Richa, a Lebanese marksman, takes aim during practice at a club in Dbayeh area, east of Beirut, July 26, 2008. REUTERS/Cynthia karam

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