• About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break
      Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break
    • Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus
      Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus
    • Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali
      Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
      Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
    • The block system is a joke
      The block system is a joke
    • Spineless nonpartisanship: how the Girl Scouts convinced me they no longer care about girls
      Spineless nonpartisanship: how the Girl Scouts convinced me they no longer care about girls
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Music Performance Courses Adapt to an Altered Semester
      Music Performance Courses Adapt to an Altered Semester
    • Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of “Rebecca” fails to deliver compared to its classic counterpart
      Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of “Rebecca” fails to deliver compared to its classic counterpart
    • “Dash & Lily” Find Love, Stranded
      “Dash & Lily” Find Love, Stranded
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
  • Health and Wellness
    • No image
      Athletic impacts of Covid-19
    • No image
      A new kind of PE
    • No image
      Maintaining wellness as the cold sets in
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • Miscellanea
    • No image
      Remote students experience existential crises; change class years in email signatures
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
      Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
    • The Artichoke
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Sara Rathod Nation & World, News, News and FeaturesFebruary 18, 2015

Nation & World: 2/18

Shooting of three Muslims in Chapel Hill sparks criticism of media bias

Three Muslim students were killed in their apartment by their neighbor, a 46-year old white man. Twenty-one-year old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, her 23-year old husband Deah Shaddy Barakat and her 19-year-old sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha were reportedly model students who volunteered in their free time. While police have said the shooting was an isolated incident stemming from a dispute over a parking space, friends and family of the victims have called the killing a hate crime. The incident sparked global outrage, with critics of the media saying that if the race and religion of the victims and perpetrator had been swapped, the story would have gotten more coverage and the shooter would have been labeled a terrorist. Instead, they say, white male shooters are often seen as lone figures with idiosyncratic motives, rather than a product of a racist undercurrent in American society. The perpetrator’s wife says he was not a bigot and is in fact politically liberal.

Hispanic population in Washington protests police brutality

Three policemen in Pasco, Washington shot and killed an unarmed Hispanic man, drawing widespread criticism and provoking members of the Hispanic community in Pasco to take to the streets in protest. In a video which has gone viral, Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, is seen running from three Pasco officers. As he was being pursued, he briefly turned to face the police with his arms slightly raised before he was gunned down. Zambrano-Montes had allegedly been throwing rocks at traffic. This was the fourth fatal police shooting in Pasco in the last seven months. Critics have compared the incident to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Pasco’s population is 56 percent Hispanic, though the police and city government remain largely white. Of the city’s 68 officers, 14 are Hispanic and only 12 speak Spanish fluently. Some residents say the language barrier further complicates relations with the police. The shooting is currently being investigated by local police agencies, the county coroner and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Terrorist shooting shakes Copenhagen

Over the weekend, a gunman launched two attacks in the heart of Copenhagen, killing a Danish film director and a Jewish security guard and wounding five police officers. The attack, which appears to be a copycat of the Charlie Hedbo attacks in Paris, is the most lethal terrorist attack Denmark has seen in decades. The gunman, believed to be a teenager named Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, fired at least 30 rounds into the windows and doors of a cafe which was hosting a freedom of speech debate. One of the speakers at the cafe, who may have been the target of the initial attack, was a Swedish cartoonist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and has since experienced numerous threats on his life. The gunman then made his way to a local synagogue, where he shot and killed the security guard. Born and raised in Denmark, Hussein is the latest example of European homegrown terrorism, though he is not believed to have had formal ties with any terrorist organization.

Fighting in Ukraine continues after ceasefire

Despite the ceasefire agreement which was supposed to take effect on Sunday, fierce fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists continued in Debaltseve. The town is a transportation hub that connects the main rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, making it a key strategic territory for the rebels. Control of the town would allow rebels to bring reinforcements more easily to Donetsk. Both sides were supposed to begin withdrawing heavy weapons by Monday but have failed to do so. Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), who are in charge of monitoring the ceasefire, were denied access to the town by rebels on Sunday. The leaders of Germany, Ukraine and Russia discussed the crisis over the phone and reportedly came to an agreement to allow international observers greater access to the town. Although most of the town’s population has been evacuated, Amnesty International estimates that 7,000 civilians remain trapped by the fighting. Most other areas of Ukraine have adhered to the peace agreement.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleNews in Brief: 2/18
Next articleExtreme amount of snow causes trouble for students, faculty and maintenance

You may also like

Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break

Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus

Students attending the puja ceremony

Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top