Nienke's blog

Good afternoon, my name is Nienke van Drunen and this is your Daily News from Around the World.

Today, we are going to start off with a look at some of the changes in the Formula 1 world.

Story #1: F1 Shook Up Tradition by Adding Sprint Races

Last season, the sprint was introduced to Formula 1 with the goal to add excitement to a race weekend. But the Formula 1 drivers had mixed feelings about this new format. 

A sprint is one-third of the distance of the Grand Prix of that weekend, with no pitstops. Instead of the usual qualification that determines the Grand Prix grid on Saturday, the sprint is run on Saturday and determines the starting grid for the Grand Prix. The usual qualifying is pushed back to Friday and then determines the starting grid for the sprint.

For all Formula 1 fans, the extra sprint races were a change in their normal racing schedule. Lea Okkels, a 21-year-old student at Morningside University and a Formula 1 fan, gave us her opinion on these sprint races. (audio), Lea said.

Not all Formula 1 drivers feel the same about the sprint weekends. Some of them like the diversity in the racing schedule. Others, however, say that they are less willing to take risks during a sprint because they don’t want to damage the car before the actual race. In their opinion that is not what a race should be about. 

Next up, is the suspense in the United States that is brought by the midterm elections.

Story #2: At the Capitol, the Question of Who Won the Midterms Lingers Days Afterward

There is an air of suspense hanging over the Capitol combined with an air of uncertainty. Members of both parties were poring over the ongoing counts in search of clues to the final outcome. 

Cassie McDermott is a 19-year-old student from Colorado and is now attending Morningside University. She talked about how she experienced the midterm elections and gave her opinion on it. (audio)

The Congress was in a state of suspended animation after the polls closed in a consequential and highly anticipated midterm election. Nobody is sure which party is going to be in charge of the House and Senate. 

Finally, we will talk about the changes and developments in the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Story #3: Ukraine Peace Talks Remain Distant Even as Moscow Signals a Retreat

American and European leaders say that they cannot push Ukraine and Russia into negotiations. They say serious peace talks between the two countries are very unlikely in the near future.

Both Russian and Ukrainian officials have made separate recent public comments about potential peace negotiations. Their last known direct talks fell apart more than six months ago. Even though both countries are talking about it, U.S. officials say they don’t believe these talks will begin soon. 

Jolina Steubner is a 19-year-old student from Germany attending Morningside University. She shared her thoughts on possible outcomes for the war between Russia and Ukraine. (audio)

Officials also concede that it is difficult to imagine that terms of a settlement will be found that Ukraine and Russia would accept. 

Thank you for listening to your Daily News from Around the World. Have a great rest of your day and we will see you again tomorrow.

Sources: 

A Dutch court is delivering a verdict in the MH17 crash, which killed 298 people.

A Dutch court is delivering a verdict in the trial over the shooting down of a passenger jet above eastern Ukraine in 2014.

In the trial, the verdict is being delivered to four men with ties to the Russian security services over the shooting down of a passenger jet. The shooting down of the jet happened during a Moscow-backed separatist uprising that foreshadowed Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country this year.

The trial can only promise a limited measure of justice for the 298 people that were killed in the crash. The defendants of the trail are believed to be in Russian-controlled territory or Russia itself, so they’re unlikely to ever serve any sentence they would receive.

The trial had been opened more than two years ago as an attempt to try and assign responsibility for a cream that had seemed to have gone without punishment.

After the crash, the world reacted with outrage, and the Western nations sought to hold Russia accountable. Russia, however, had repeatedly denied any responsibility in the deaths, even though there was evidence that the plane was shot from a Russian military base across the border into eastern Ukraine, as well as intercepted calls and messages that point to the involvement of Russian-backed separatists.

None of the defendants of the case were arrested or appeared in court. They were tried in absentia.

According to Mr. Ploeg, the chairman of the MH17 Flight Disaster Foundation, the absence of the defendants made it harder for the trial to bring clarity and catharsis to the victims and help them come to terms with what happened.

What drew me to this story in the first place was the fact that I saw the word ‘Dutch’ in the title. Being from the Netherlands, it’s always attractive to read about your home country when you look through the news.

In my opinion, this was a news worthy story. Even though the original plane crash happened a few years age, they still dress new developments of this event. The author did a good job of summarizing what happened during the crash and then explaining the new developments of this event. This made it easy to follow for readers who did not know about the crash from a few years ago or for readers who just needed a reminder on the topic. I don’t think there is anything missing in this story. The important details are explained in a clear but direct way, the author did not over complicate it. Because of this, the article was easy to read and easy to understand.

During the volleyball intramural, soccer player Marnix van Exel discovered his competitive side for the game of volleyball.

Every year, Morningside University organizes intramural for different sports. The intramural is designed to allow anyone to become involved in different sports. Teams can be formed by anyone, with anyone. You don’t have to be an athlete to participate, but if you are an athlete, you cannot participate in the intramural for your own sport.

Marnix loves sports and always gets very competitive while playing sports. He was excited to try out a different sport, so he created a team with some of his friends and signed them up for the volleyball intramural.

Last Wednesday, Marnix and his team had their quarter final game and he was more competitive than he had felt in any of the previous games. Now, it was all or nothing. If they would lose this game, they would be out of the tournament, and Marnix was going to do everything to avoid that. Even though Marnix and his team fought hard, they lost their quarter final match and are now out of the tournament.

Next to Marnix’ feeling of competitiveness, he also got frustrated during the game. “In the previous games we always had the same people play and now, all of a sudden, two of the others wanted to play even though they never wanted to before. I just wanted to win.” he said. Their usual team had built a good connection together and they became better with every match, so when the other players suddenly decided they wanted to play, it frustrated Marnix.

Marnix also said that his team was criticizing him for playing too careful, even though Marnix was one of the best players on their team that scored them the most points. On top of that, the ref was making bad calls that were in favor of the other team.

“I don’t like to lose.” Marnix said. So, the loss was already frustrating and the other adding factors did not make it better. But, Marnix stayed competitive throughout the entire game and fought till the end.

Story #1: F1 Shook Up Tradition by Adding Sprint Races

Last seasons, the sprint was introduced to Formula 1 with the goal to add excitement to a race weekend. But the Formula 1 drivers had mixed feelings about this new format.

A sprint is one-third of the distance of the Grand Prix of that Sunday, with no pitstops. On most weekends, the qualification that determines the Grand Prix starting positions happens on Saturday. However, sprints are run on Saturdays, so on those weekends the traditional qualifying happens on Friday. On sprint weekends, qualifying determines the starting positions of the drivers for the sprint race, and the results of the sprint determines the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Not all Formula 1 drivers feel the same about the sprint weekends. Some of them like the diversity in the racing schedule. Others, however, say that they are less willing to take risks during a sprint because they don’t want to damage the car before the actual race. In their opinion that is not what a race should be about.

(interview: what is *interviewed person’s* view on these sprint races)

Story #2: At the Capitol, the Question of Who Won the Midterms Lingers Days Afterward

There is an air of suspense hanging over the Capitol combined with an air of uncertainty. Members of both parties were poring over the ongoing counts in search of clues to the final outcome.

The Congress was in a state of suspended animation after the polls closed in a consequential and highly anticipated midterm election. Nobody is sure which party is going to be in charge of the House and Senate.

Traditionally, the outcome of the votes are pretty clear and the winners all rush to the Capitol to talk publicly about their victories and plans for the future. This year, congressional leaders have maintained a low profile until they can be sure of the outcome.

(interview)

Story #3: Ukraine Peace Talks Remain Distant Even as Moscow Signals a Retreat

American and European leaders say that they cannot push Ukraine and Russia into negotiations. They say serious peace talks between the two countries are very unlikely in the near future.

Both Russian and Ukrainian officials have made separate recent public comments about potential peace negotiations. Their last known direct talks fell apart more than six months ago. Even though both countries are talking about it, U.S. officials say they don’t believe these talks will begin soon.

They also concede that it is difficult to imagine that terms of a settlement will be found that Ukraine and Russia would accept.

(interview)

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/us/politics/midterms-congress-capitol.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/politics/ukraine-russia-peace-talks.html

84 Years Later, a Rare Look at the Nazi Attacks of Kristallnacht

A former American serviceman had kept the photographs of the assaults on Jews during the 1938 pogrom, which is widely commemorated as the start of the Holocaust.

The chilling photos of the Nazi pogrom in 1938 gained new attention on the 84th anniversary of what is knows as the night of broken glass, or Kristallnacht. This night the organized and widespread on Jews started that are widely commemorated as the start of the Holocaust.

The pictures were found in an album that had been secreted away by a former American soldier. After he died, the album with the pictures was donated to the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel. This served to refocus attention on both the images and the night itself.

“We can see from the extreme close-up nature of these photos that the photographers were an integral part of the event depicted,” said Mr. Matthews. “The angles and proximity to the perpetrators seem to indicate a clear goal, to document the events that took place.”

The new attention on these newly discovered photos came as politicians in Berlin commemorated the anniversary in the shadow of an increase in antisemitic crimes.

“The night of Nov. 9, 1938, will forever remain a night of shame for our country,” Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, said in Parliament on Wednesday

The topic of this article is definitely one that speaks to everyone, which makes it even more newsworthy. The events of World War II had a big impact on all countries. So, in my opinion, any topic that involves events of this time period is important for people to hear or read about. This is our history after all. The article does well of explaining what was found and describing why the discovered photos gained new attention on this horrible event. The author explains very clear what he wants to talk about and also gives a short but clear explanation of the event, the Kristallnacht, that it had to do with. This makes it easy to follow for everyone who reads it. It’s a straight forward, well written article.

Newly wed Laurette Brunsen was shot by her new husband after she threw a plate of macaroni salad at him.

50-year-old Richard Brunsen shot his 38-year-old wife, Laurette Kenny Brunsen with a 22-calibre handgun only a couple of hours after getting married.

The newly weds’ neighbor, Michael Martin was surprised by this event, saying “I have never seen him violent. Never heard them yelling.”

Sergeant Mann, who was on site for the event that had just occurred, said “It happened after she threw a plate of wedding reception macaroni salad at him. His whereabouts are still unknown.”

After getting shot, mrs. Brunsen was brought to St. Luke’s Hospital. She was shot in the abdomen but hospital officials say that she’s in satisfactory conditions.

Dobby’s Grave Can Stay on a Beach in Wales, but Please Stop Giving Him Socks

As the grave site for the elf from “Harry Potter” became a tourist attraction, the tributes left to the character started to give environmental concerns.

In the Harry Potter series, Dobby, and elf, dies in Harry’s arms on a beach that Dobby describes as “such a beautiful place to be with friends.”

The “beautiful place” where this scene was filmed, Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, has become an attraction where fans have assembled a memorial to Dobby. Environmental officials, however, became concerned that the popularity of the beach was having a negative effect on the land and they considered tearing the memorial down.

Last week, officials announced that Dobby’s grave site could stay, as longs as visitors stopped leaving behind tributes to Dobby.

Part of the problem arose from a gesture that many fans likely intended as a tribute but it had damaging consequences: visitors kept giving Dobby socks. Back in the real world, socks are a bad thing to leave on a beach. In addition to the socks, people also left messages painted on rocks.

The National Trust Wales said in its assessment that “items like socks, trinkets, and paint chips from painted pebbles could enter the marine environment and food chain and put wildlife at risk.”

I think the author of this article did a really good job coming up with a captivating title. When I read it, it made me laugh and it made me want to read the story. Even though the title and topic of this article can be seen as humorous, it’s also very serious. In the lead, the author mentions that the tributes left at Dobby’s grave are prompting environmental concerns. In my opinion, the article presents a good balance between the funny topic and the seriousness of the topic. For me personally, it made it more fun and easy for me to read this article. But it won’t be like this for everyone. The article has a specific audience: people that have watched the Harry Potter movies. The article does give some background information on Dobby for readers that have not seen the Harry Potter movies.

In my opinion, the article is well written and mentions all the necessary information that can be provided at this moment. It’s not to long but still very clear which makes it easy to read and follow.

Dutch Are Investigating Reported Illegal Chinese Police Stations

Wednesday, the Dutch government said that it was investigating reports that Chinese law enforcement agencies illegally operate offices in the Netherlands to intimidate and police Chinese citizens overseas.

Comparing the article and the video I found on this topic, I found that the leads were very similar and almost identical. In the lead of the article they mention that there have been reports by news media and a human rights group about two Chinese police force offices that opened in the Netherlands. In the video, however, the lead mentions that the Dutch government is already investigating those reports. Besides this little detail, the leads are almost identical.

In length and content, the article and the video are very similar as well. I think I spend around the same time to read the article as time I spend to watch the video. They mostly cover the same things, all the important and necessary parts are the same, but some of the smaller details are different.

First of all, the order in which the information is told is different. In the video, they start talking about the Chinese police offices in other countries sooner than they do in the article. In the article, they focus a little bit more on the Dutch offices first before they move on to the information they have on other countries. The video does come back to the offices in the Netherlands, but more towards the end of the video.

Both the article and the video are using the same sources and are very clear in naming them. They use clear attribution to make it clear for the readers and viewers where they got their information from.

The article and video do use different quotes in their story. But the funny thing about this is, is even though one uses it as a quote, doesn’t mean that the other doesn’t mention it at all. What either the video or the article uses as a quote, is still mentioned in the other’s story.

Both the video and the article use the example of Wang Jingyu’s experience with the Chinese government and their police offices in the Netherlands.

The video and article both use pictures. The article has two pictures: one of the Chinese embassy in The Hague and one of Wang Jingyu and his fiancee. The video shows a lot more pictures than the article. They seem to be pictures of Chinese police officers but the pictures seem to have been taken in China itself, not in the Netherlands or another country with Chinese police offices. The video shares the information by the news reporter asking questions to another live reporter in Brussels who’s is there to learn more about the situation.

In my opinion, both the article and the video made a clear, easy to follow story about this topic. Even though they didn’t use the same order in which they presented their information, both stories are still efficient and well written.