Good, Bad, and Ugly

Oh! Kolkata!

Indian state election expected to end Kolkata’s 34-year communist rule

As dawn broke on Monday, scores of voters formed queues outside one unopened booth, excitedly showing their identity cards to security personnel in Siliguri, 370 miles north of Kolkata. Once one of the richest cities in Asia and the capital of the British empire in India, Kolkata has become a byword for poverty and has stumbled behind the new modern India of IT cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Can you please justify your comment on the article – “Kolkata has become a byword for poverty.” Since when this has happened, I would really like to know.

I am looking forward to a direct reply from the author justifying such a claim.

A.C.

I think the use of “byword” is justified in this context.

The election is fixed?

Venezuela opposition to pick Chavez challenger

CARACAS, April 13 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition coalition on Wednesday fixed an election for next February to choose its candidate to challenge President Hugo Chavez in a presidential vote at the end of 2012.

It’s a poor choice of words to say the opposition fixed an election for next February.

This implies rigging an election. This shouldn’t have passed the editor.

Kenny

To American eyes, the words fixed and election in the same sentence do have an unfortunate meaning.

Square or round?

Bahrain opposition meets to agree demands

Protesters swept back into Pearl Square late on Saturday after Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa ordered troops and armored vehicles to withdraw and offered to lead a national dialogue after days of unrest that left six dead.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE could you stop referring to ‘Pearl Square’ in your Bahrain news reports as there is no such place. The area in which the protests are being held is the Pearl Roundabout in Manama.

Carol

Several readers have made this point to us in recent days, and we do understand the argument.

Virtually all Western media are using the name Pearl Square, and to avoid using it would cause some confusion.

There is also the point that while the word “roundabout” is commonly used in some English-speaking countries, it isn’t well understood in the States: GBU Editor

Curbing rocket fire?

Kindergarten near-miss highlights Gaza risks

Hamas spurns permanent coexistence with the Jewish state, but its men have tried to curb the rocket fire from Gaza in recent years. Smaller groups continue to carry out attacks.

Why would you bias your news article with that statement?

How do you know Hamas leaders have tried to curb rocket attacks? To the best of my knowledge, they have tried to encourage rocket attacks.

When you are the reporter, you have a fiduciary duty to report the news – unless it is in your editorial column.

M.D.

I am comfortable with that reference. Israel, for one, has said this in the past, although it also contends Hamas can do more.

Be our guests?

Snow and ice ground flights in Europe

In Germany, Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said 470 flights had been canceled on Sunday so far and a worsening of weather conditions was expected from noon onwards.

“The airport halls are packed with flight guests,” a spokeswoman said, adding that about 1,000 people were forced to stay at the airport overnight.

I assume the “flight guests” is a VERY literal translation of the German “Flüggäste.”

“Fluggäste” are “passengers,” not “flight guests.”

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of the term “flight guests” before. An airport is not called a “flight harbour,” is it?

Jason M.

Is Obama responsible?

Analysis: N. Korea crisis latest blow to Obama’s nuclear agenda WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has set the goal of eventually ridding the world of nuclear arms as a central theme of his presidency, but North Korea’s defiance and other recent setbacks have raised fresh doubts about whether he can turn his vision into reality.

With Obama’s broader nuclear agenda seemingly imperiled at home and abroad, he now faces a test of whether he can salvage credibility for U.S. leadership in dealing effectively with more immediate threats like the one posed by Pyongyang.

Seriously? Now he’s responsible for a nutcase whom the previous administration termed part of the ‘axis of evil’?

Next we’ll be reading about how the death of the miners in New Zealand is a failing of the administration’s mine safety policies.

When did Thompson Reuters become a fanboy for News Corporation?

I voted with my feet – dropped Reuters from my favorites and inserted Bloomberg there instead.

J.K.

Show your stripes…

Myanmar gets new flag, official name, anthem

The new flag has a horizontal band of light green at the top, dark green in the center and red at the bottom, with a white star in the middle. There has been no official explanation as to what the colours or the star represent.

With regard to your story “Myanmar gets new flag, official name, anthem,” you say the new flag “has a horizontal band of light green at the top, dark green in the center and red at the bottom.”

The accompanying picture of said flag shows the top band is yellow, not green.

Hope you can rectify the error ASAP

S.K.

We corrected: GBU Editor

Charges dropped?

Pentagon cautions news media on WikiLeaks documents

Assange has been establishing a base in Sweden in order to benefit from the Nordic country’s strict journalist protection laws. He is also being investigated over rape allegations in Sweden, which he has denied, calling them baseless.

It has been widely reported that the rape charges were dropped.

The relevancy of the remaining charges would appear to have no bearing on the article on hand, and the original statement would appear to be included as an attempt of character assassination by the author.

D.E.

It was indeed widely reported in August that the charges were dropped, and then again in September when Swedish prosecutors reopened the investigation:  GBU Editor

Frame grab shows Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny during a news conference in Stockholm September 1, 2010.  Ny, a top Swedish prosecutor, said on Wednesday she was reopening an investigation into rape allegations against Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. REUTERS/Angelica Karlsson/Scanpix Sweden

Giving thugs a bad name?

Gay rights march in Belgrade triggers violent riots

BELGRADE (Reuters) – A gay rights parade in Belgrade erupted in violence on Sunday as thousands of police deployed to protect marchers clashed with anti-gay protesters, who rioted and attacked the headquarters of the ruling parties.

Pushed back from the parade area by 5,000 police in riot gear, protesters turned to other targets, breaking into the lobby of the state television network, scaling scaffolding to try to enter parliament, smashing windows at the Austrian embassy and burning a car in front of the French embassy.

Gangs of tough-looking youths threw stones, crowbars, wooden planks, bottles and other objects at police, smashed windows of cars and buses and looted several central shops including that of Italian retailer Benetton. Some sang nationalist songs.

This is one poor piece of journalism.

You try to make the protesters look like a bunch of backwards idiots with clever wording. I wish they would not destroy property and injure the police, but they are sick of their own government making life for the sodomites like a cakewalk.

What’s burning?

There is a widely distributed image credited to Reuters. Honest reporting dictates that you tell us what is burning in the background.

To be more clear, this was a protest against the planned burning of the Koran in Florida, and most of us believe that they are burning Bibles in the background.

Your photographer was there and he would know. Please let us know or you are not reporting the whole story, which would be a dereliction of duty.

Captain C.

Let me get this straight. You’re asking what is burning, but “most of you believe” it’s Bibles?

The smoke in the background here is from burning car tires, according to our photographer, who as you point out, was there.