IMS HERALD
Algeria Hostage
Crisis Proves
Tragic
Jessica Feltner, staff writer
On January i6, gunmen claiming Al
Qaeda ties seized a natural gas pro
cessing plant in Tigantourine, Algeria,
taking several dozen hostages and
prompting an armed response from
the Algerian government. The crisis
ended four days later, with an estimat
ed 37 hostages and 29 gunmen dead.
News of the events filtered into the
media slowly and unreliably. Accord
ing to the BBC, the heavily armed gun
man first attacked two buses outside
the plant, killing two workers. Then
they entered the living quarters area
and took hundreds of employees hos
tage. They held mostly foreign hostag
es and freed more than 600 Algerians
and 100 foreigners. There were reports
that hostages were wired with explo
sive devices.
"
Iku3nar ‘
HUFFPOSTITK
Map of Algeria and the location of the
hostage crisis via Huffington Post
As these events unfolded, Algerian
forces surrounded the plant, and on
January 17, an airstrike attacked the
vehicles used by the attackers to re
move the hostages.
The gunmen involved are believed
to be Islamists from various countries,
including Algeria, Canada, Egypt,
Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Tunisia.
They are said to have traveled from
northern Mali, an area that is currently
in the midst of turmoil and under
French intervention. The gunmen
claimed the attack was retaliation
against the bombing of Mali by France,
though experts analyzing the situation
doubt this claim, saying that the siege
must have been planned far longer in
advance.
The Algerian police have pointed to
Algerian —cont. on page 2
Social Media
Sites Grow and
Change, Users
Respond
Cody Jeffery, staff writer
IWitter and Facebook are two of the
most popular social media sites
With over one billion interna
tional users, one billion dollars in net
income, and 244 million dollars in box
office sales with the hit biographical
film, “The Social Network,” Facebook
has forever changed the way people
meet, interact, and build relationships
with one another, “Facebook is the
iPhone of all social networking. It’s so
user friendly, I still use it every day,”
said Meredith Business Administra
tion major Dee Evans.
Founder and CEO, Mark Zucker-
berg, created Facebook one night in
his Harvard dorm room. Originally
known as Facemash, where the faces
of two people were compared and us
ers could vote on which was “hot and
which was “not.”
As Facebook grew from 100 mil
lion users in 2008 to one billion users
in 2012, its next savvy step was to
become a publicly traded company
starting May 2012. Surprisingly, Face-
book’s stock is anything but consis
tent, with a 52-week low of $17.55 and
a high of $45.00, Facebook doesn’t
even compare to the stock prices of
companies like Google with a 52-week
low of $556.52. “I would not buy a
single share of Facebook stock. Within
the next few years, [Facebook] is going
to fizzle out just like MySpace did,”
said Meredith student Nancy Merritt.
Along with the obvious financial
woes that Facebook is facing, many
users are not pleased with the con
stant updates and changes that the
social network keeps installing, “From
a marketing perspective, I thought
the customized advertisements were
a good idea, but as a consumer I find
them annoying and an invasion of
privacy,” said Evans.
Others believe that Facebook is
simply losing popularity due to its big
gest competitor, Twitter. Created by
Jack Dorsey —cont. on page 7
Hillary Clinton
Steps Down
AJ Thompson, staff writer
On December 30 Hillary Clinton
was admitted New York Presbyterian
hospital after receiving a concussion
from fainting. There she received
blood thinners to assist in the care of
a blood clot which was located behind
her right ear, and she has since fully.
recovered.
Perhaps in light of these health
scares the political powerhouse has
opted to step down from the office of
Secretary of State and take it easier on
her health. It is likely that her position
will be filled by Senator John Kerry;
the Senator has been endorsed by the
President and a vote in the senate this
past week favored him, 94 to 3.
When asked if she might consider
running for President in the 2016 elec
tion, Clinton made no promises, but
neither did she completely disavow
the idea. Supporters are in favor of her
running. A political action committee
has already been created in her name,
without her support, called “Ready for
Hillary”, which will be ready to raise
money should she chose to run in the
next election.
While she may not be confirming a
presidential campaign, she has repeat
edly assured that one of her main con
cerns is the lives of women and girls
around the world, and she plans to
continue supporting them through her
writing, speaking, and other works.
State of Emer
gency in Egypt
Threatens Po
tential Collapse
Kim Dixon and Hannah Thornton, staff
writers
The atmosphere of Egypt has been
tense since the Egyptian Revolution in
January 2011. People watched the new
government to see if changes would
be made; however, the trust of the
people has eroded as the government
and President Morsi, former member
of the Muslim Brotherhood, have, ac
cording to the Egyptian masses, leaned
towards Islamist policies and govern
ing.
On Tuesday, January 29, 2013,
Egypt’s top military officer warned of a
potential “collapse of the state” if
Islamist leaders and their opponents
continue to disagree on matters of
government.
Violence and demonstrations have
arisen in cities across Egypt, includ
ing Cairo, Port Said, and Suez. Amidst
burning tires, trashed hotels, thrown
rocks, tear gas, and bullets, riots have
increased in brutality. On Monday,
protestors in Cairo made a bonfire
out of a stolen police car. At least 45
people have died in Port Said at the
northern tip of the Suez Canal. Dem
onstrators in Port Said have declared
their city to be an independent nation.
In response to the violence. Presi
dent Morsi has posed a month long
state of emergency in Port Said in
order to protect the Suez Canal and re
gain control of the city. With this state
of emergency, police have more power,
the people have fewer rights, and cur
fews have been instated. However, the
people are fighting this declaration,
and at one protest, which started at the
beginning of the 9pm curfew, one man
told a New York Times Reporter, “This
[curfew] doesn’t apply to Port Said
because we don’t recognize him as our
president. He is the president of the
Muslim Brotherhood only.”
Google Maps
North Korea
Rachel Pratl, staff writer
Yesterday, Google uploaded a de
tailed map of the North Korea, thanks
to the help of “a community of citizen
cartographers.” People can now zoom
in to see the country’s capital and ma
jor landmarks, hotels, schools and hos
pitals, even the tower that celebrates
the country’s self-reliance.
Goose’s map of North Korea
Image via New York Times
Google called for more mapping
information in the North from “neti-
zens.” The posting of the map shed
unwanted light on the North at a time
when the country is in a tense standoff
with the United States and its allies.
The country has also promised to con
duct a third nuclear test.
Although not very detailed in much
of the country, the map does include
four enormous prison camps. Google
Maps will probably not be releasing
new information to those countries
which already have reliable sources
of the nation’s geography, obtained
through years of surveillance.
North Korean —cont. on page 7