Theme and Rheme Progression on Newspaper Articles from BBC and The Jakarta Post

FINAL PAPER

Syauqi Ahmad Zulfauzi Stya-Lacksana

(1201985)

Schools of Linguistics

IG 567

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAMDEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATIONINDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

2014

ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET

Student’s Name Syauqi Ahmad Zulfauzi Stya-Lacksana

Student’s Number 1201985

Course Name & Code Schools of Linguistics

Title of Assignment Theme and Rheme Progression on Newspaper Articles from BBC and The Jakarta Post

Lecturer’s Name(s) Dadang Sudana, M. A., Ph. D.Ernie D. A, Imperiani, M. Ed.

Due Date June 2nd, 2014

Word Count 2,970

Cross out the unnecessary information

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

I, Syauqi Ahmad Zulfauzi Stya-Lacksana , hereby

Declare that the work I am submitting is my own original work and that I have read and used a number of texts for my assignment. I declare that in my assignment:

I have acknowledged all ideas and words that come from other authors and cited appropriately, I have quoted directly or indirectly from those authors and cited appropriately, I have not copied whole sentences, sections, words, or phrases from any other author, book,

internet source, journal or student, I have made an accurate List of References for my paper with regard to proper referencing

system such as APA style, I have discussed and analyzed the sources I have used and expressed my own opinions, I have not had any outside help in writing this assignment.

Signed : Syauqi Ahmad Zulfauzi Stya-Lacksana

Date : June 2nd, 2014

ABSTRACT

Newspaper is a widely-used media all over the world and for linguist a newspaper could

be the research object to find out how the language works in a community. This research

discusses newspaper articles from two different countries, i.e. English speaking country and

Indonesian speaking country. The aim of this research is to find out whether there are differences

in the usage of English in newspaper from Great Britain and Indonesia. The data are gathered

from online newspaper site of BBC and The Jakarta Post and analyzed using the theme and

rheme progression from the systemic functional grammar theory. The data that are analyzed are

in form of similar paragraphs and similar sentences and compared to each other. The findings

from this study reveal that there are differences in structures in similar sentences, and show that

BBC tends to use normal structure of Subject—Predicate—Object while The Jakarta Post

sometimes highlighting the time of an occasion and the adverb of time deserve the function as

the theme of the sentence. In a data it is also found that BBC tend to be simpler, while The

Jakarta Post tend to use longer words and more complicated.

Keywords: SFG, theme and rheme progression, newspaper, articles

Newspaper is one of the printed media that is widely used all over the world. According

to Stamm (1985) as cited in Mersey (2010), newspaper readership is a determinant of a

community ties and community ties is a result of newspaper readership. This theory certainly

makes a concept that newspaper and community have a strong relationship. To this fact,

newspaper can be a perfect media to know more about how a language work in a community and

a reliable research object to analyze more than just an article for a linguist. Differences that could

be found in newspapers certainly affect or are affected by the language use in community.

Moreover, there are a number of English newspapers nowadays that come from native

English speaking country and non-English speaking country. There would be differences

between the newspaper articles from native English speaking country and that from non-English

speaking country. Yule (2010) states that second language speaker could possibly experience

transfer or crosslinguistic influence, i.e. using sounds, expressions, or structures of his/her first

language. This could happen even to those who speak second language almost fluently,

especially in minor structures such as adverb positioning. One could draw a conclusion that there

would be differences in term of structures in newspaper article from English speaking country

and non-English speaking country.

In this paper, several English newspaper articles from native English country, i.e. BBC,

and from Indonesia, i.e. The Jakarta Post, will be compared. The goal of the study is to reveal

whether there are similarities or differences on the sentence structure to draw the point that is

highlighted in the article. In this case, the theme and rheme progression from systemic functional

grammar will be used to analyze the similar sentences from two articles on the same topic that

come from two different newspaper form English speaking country and Indonesian speaking

country.

LITERARY REVIEW

Text is one of the major research objects for linguist. Text can take several forms and one

of them is newspaper articles. Newspaper articles could possibly be analyzed to find out how a

language works in a community. One theory that can be used to analyze texts is systemic

functional grammar.

Systemic functional grammar is one of the schools of linguistics first developed by

Michael Halliday. The aims of systemic functional grammar is to provide an understandable

account about the way a language works in communication, to explain the forms of language

from the point of view of meaning that they have, and to generate a grammar that would be

acceptable to express about anything, both spoken and written (Halliday, 1994, as cited in

Chapman, 2009). Chapman (2009) argues that systemic functional grammar is a full-developed

alternative for linguistic paradigm that split the analysis of language to morphology, syntax,

semantics, and so on, and language can be understood properly only if the language is analyzed

at all stages of investigation. Halliday believes that there are three levels of meaning, i.e.

ideational, interpersonal, and textual. Hermawan (n.d.) cited Butt et al. (2003) as suggesting for

summarizing the Halliday three metafunctions of meaning, that is ideational metafunction uses

the language to express the experience, interpersonal metafunction uses language to make sense

of an idea, and textual metafunction uses language to organize experiential, logical, and

interpersonal meanings into a well-formed text, both spoken or written.

According to Chapman (2009), textual metafunction have the concept of theme and

rheme. Theme and rheme is one of the core concepts in systemic functional grammar. Halliday

& Mathiessen (2004) states that “the theme is the element which serves as the point of departure

of the message” while the rheme is part of the sentence in which the Theme is developed. Wang

(2007) illustrated the relationship between theme and rheme simply as that theme is the first

element that occurs in a sentence. Wang also states that theme, even though always occurs in the

first place of a sentence, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the subject of a sentence, that theme

can also be adverbial, interjection, et cetera. Chapman (2009) states that the theme of a sentence

has an important role on describing how the sentence relates to the other sentences that surround

it.

Hermawan (n.d.) states that theme and rheme progression has been used to analyze text in

a number of studies, including research from Hermawan (n.d.) which discovers the theme and

rheme progression and transitivity in Sundanese stories. Besides, theme and rheme progression

also has been used for other functions, for instance, a research by Feitosa (2006) that develop

numeric code for corpora annotation to overcome the problem in translation machine based on

theme and rheme progression. This study investigates how theme and rheme progression differs

in newspaper articles from different countries which use different native language.

METHODOLOGY

This mini research is conducted to know whether there are differences concerning about

the theme and rheme projection in English newspaper from native English country (BBC) and

from Indonesia (The Jakarta Post).

The data that is gathered to conduct this mini research are collected from the online sites

of both newspapers. There are several articles that are used, i.e. “Somalia parliament attacked by

al-Shabab in Mogadishu” and “Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Middle East visit” from BBC

and “Militants attack parliament building in Somalia” and “Pope to see Syrian refugee crisis in

Jordan” from The Jakarta Post.

The data will be analyzed through similar paragraphs and/or sentences that have both

similarities in differences regarding the theme and rheme progression. Then both paragraphs or

sentences from two newspapers will be compared to each other to see whether there is a pattern

of differences concerning the theme and rheme progression.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In the following section, the data that have been collected will be compared to one

another and analyzed with the theme and rheme progression. There are differences among the

articles and similarities as well. The findings will be presented in the form of tables.

These data are collected from articles “Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Middle East

visit” (BBC) and “Pope to see Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan” (The Jakarta Post)

Source Theme Rheme

BBC Pope Francis has arrived in Jordan at the start of a three day visit to the Middle East which will also take him to Israel and Palestinian territories

He is due to be welcomed by King Abdullah IIHe will celebrate Mass in a stadium in Amman

before later meeting Syrian refugees

The Jakarta Post

On the first leg of his three day Mideast trip

Pope Francis will get a firsthand look at the plight of Syrian refugees and witness the toll the civil war next door is taking on Jordan

After meeting with King Abdullah II and Queen Rania at the royal palace, Francis is due to celebrate Mass on Saturday in Amman’s International Stadium

In this case, the data that is analyzed is in the form of paragraph

From the data above it can be found that BBC tend to use unmarked theme. Halliday &

Mathiessen (2004) states that unmarked theme is a theme that fills the subject slot. Using the

subject as the theme for the first clause and the references to the subject for next clauses is a

basic ways to maintain the focus of the text (Eggins, 2004, as cited in Hermawan, n.d.).

The Jakarta Post uses adverb of time as the theme of the analyzed sentences. It is certain

that in the article there are usages of unmarked theme as well, as in the analyzed sentences are

those which have similarities concerning the topic with the other article.

The next data are collected from articles “Somalia parliament attacked by al-Shabab in

Mogadishu” (BBC) and “Militants attack parliament building in Somalia” (The Jakarta Post)

BBC Somalia parliament attacked by al-Shabab in MogadishuThe Jakarta Post

Militants attack parliament building in Somalia

BBC Al-Shabab which is linked to al-Qaeda, once controlled large areas of Somalia but was pushed out of major cities in 2011 and 2012

The Jakarta Post

The group [al-Shabab] was booted out of the capital in 2011 but still controls wide areas of southern Somalia

The data that are analyzed above are in the form of similar sentences.

From the first data, BBC use the “Somalia parliament” as the point of departure of the

sentence, make it highlights the Somalia parliament for the sentence, which is the object of

attack, and make the sentence presented in passive voice. While The Jakarta Post is using the

normal order Subject—Predicate–Object for the first data with “Militants” that deserve a

function as the theme of the sentence.

While for the second data, both newspapers are using “al-Shabab” or reference to al-

Shabab, The Jakarta Post use “The group” as the reference to al-Shabab, as the theme, make both

sentences have “al-Shabab” as the point of departure of the message.

The following data are gathered from “Kenya’s Nairobi hit by twin bomb blasts in

Gikomba market” (BBC) and “Four killed in twin Nairobi blasts” (The Jakarta Post)

BBC The Kenyan National Disaster Operation Centre

said the first explosion occurred in a minibus, the second in the large open-air Gikomba market.

The Jakarta Post

The center said the first blast occurred on a 14-seater matatu, or public minibus, and the second was inside Gikomba Market, situated to the east of Nairobi’s central business district

BBC Fire engines and the Red Cross were at the scene tending the injured.The Jakarta Post

The Kenyan Red Cross said five of its ambulances were evacuating casualties from the scene of the blasts.

BBC Hundreds of UK tourists were evacuated from the coastal resort area of Mombasa amid warnings of an attack.

The Jakarta Post

On Thursday and Friday hundreds of British tourists were being evacuated from beach resorts near Mombasa because of the travel warnings.

BBC At least 10 people have been killed and scores more injured in a twin bombing in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The Jakarta Post

Four people have been killed in two explosions in a busy market area in the Kenyan capital Nairobi

In these articles, the data that are analyzed are in the form of similar sentences.

In these articles, the most used theme is unmarked theme, in other words, the theme

mostly fills the subject slot, and only differ in the chosen word. For instance, BBC use “The

Kenyan National Disaster Operation Center” while The Jakarta Post use “The center”, BBC use

“Fire engines and the Red Cross” while The Jakarta Post use “The Kenyan Red Cross”. In the

fourth data, difference is found in the number of victims, that BBC states “At least 10 people”

while The Jakarta Post states “Four people”. This difference possibly occurs because of the late

update of the website. Despite this difference, they are still the unmarked theme, as the subject of

the sentence deserves the function of the theme. In contrast, there is a difference to the third data,

where BBC use unmarked theme, i.e. hundreds of UK tourists, while The Jakarta Post use adverb

of time as the theme and highlight the time when an occasion take time.

The following data are gathered from “Maya Angelou the ‘brightest light’ say Obama”

(BBC) and “Maya Angelou, poet and author, dies at 86” (The Jakarta Post).

BBC Angelou was also a prominent civil rights activist and a friend of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

The Jakarta Post

The childhood victim of rape wrote a million-selling memoir, befriended Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and performed on stages around the world

BBC In a statement on Facebook they said she passed away quietly at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at 08:00 EST (12:00 GMT)

The Jakarta Post

Angelou's son, Guy B. Johnson said the writer died Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had been a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University since 1982

BBC She [Maya Angelou] made her name with the memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which charted a childhood of oppression and abuse in the Deep South in the 1930s

The Jakarta Post

An actress, singer and dancer in the 1950s and 1960s, she [Maya Angelou]

broke through as an author in 1969 with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which became standard (and occasionally censored) reading, and was the first of a multipart autobiography that continued through the decades

From the first and third data, both newspapers use the unmarked theme, as the theme fills

the subject slot for their sentences. However, there are differences as well. The Jakarta Post tends

to use more complex noun phrase to fill the subject slot and deserve a function as a theme. For

instance, BBC use simply the word “Angelou” while The Jakarta Post use “The childhood victim

of rape” as a reference to Maya Angelou instead of using her name. In addition, from the third

data, BBC use the pronoun “She” as the reference to Maya Angelou while The Jakarta Post use

the phrase “An actress, singer and dancer in the 1950s and 1960s” as the reference to Maya

Angelou.

From the second data, BBC is not using the unmarked theme, but using a prepositional

phrase “In a statement on Facebook” as the point of departure of the sentence and highlighting “a

statement on Facebook”. On the other side, The Jakarta Post use unmarked theme, but it is a

group or phrase complex as theme. Halliday & Mathiessen (2004) suggest that phrase complex

as a theme occurs when two nominal constituents take place as one theme, e.g. “Angelou’s son,

Guy B. Johnson”. In this case, there are ‘Angelou’s Son’ and ‘Guy B. Johnson’, two nouns and

they are both sharing the same subject slot and both deserve the function as the theme of the

sentence.

The following data are taken from the same articles as above, analyzed in paragraph

BBC After the poverty, violence and segregation of her childhood,

she became a singer, a dancer, cocktail waitress, prostitute and an actress before beginning her writing career.

The Jakarta Post

At age 9 she was writing poetryBy 17 she was a single motherIn her early 20s she danced at a strip joint, ran a brothel, was

married (to Enistasious Tosh Angelos, her first of three husbands) and then divorced

By her mid-20s she was performing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, where she shared billing with another future star, Phyllis Diller

The similarities and differences on those two paragraphs can be seen clearly. The

similarities, is that both paragraphs use adverb of time as the theme and highlighting when an

occasion takes time. However, there is a big difference between two paragraphs. Both paragraphs

are providing a short biography of Maya Angelou, but different in the delivery of the message.

BBC makes it simple by putting together everything into a short, one sentence. On the contrary,

The Jakarta Post being more specific by referring to the age of Maya Angelou to describe her

life. This causes The Jakarta Post to have four sentences for delivering the short biography of

Maya Angelou. This could possibly confirm the stereotypes of the two nations, that British, as

European, tend to be simple and to the point, that they only have one sentence to describe the life

of Maya Angelou. While Indonesian are complicated and like a long and useful things, that it is

possible for the company to make it shorter as BBC does, but the company put four sentences to

describe the life of Maya Angelou instead. However, the last point could be a weak analysis and

need more research to confirm the statement.

CONCLUSION

This paper has discussed the findings from newspaper articles concerning the theme and

rheme progression.

From the data that have been gathered and the analysis of the data, there are some

conclusions that can be concluded. The conclusion is that there are several differences regarding

the structures. Generalization can be drawn that BBC tend to use normal structure of Subject—

Predicate—Object for the articles, while The Jakarta Post sometimes use adverb of time as the

point of departures of the sentence and highlight the time when something take time.

Even though it would be difficult to discover fixed and significant differences, this

research has showed that there are several structural differences among newspaper articles from

Great Britain (BBC) and Indonesia (The Jakarta Post). In addition, further research on theme and

rheme progression could make a conclusion on the social behavior of the two nations besides

only telling the differences.

References

Agence France-Press. (2014, May 17). Four killed in twin Nairobi blasts. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/17/four-killed-twin-nairobi-blasts.html

Associated Press. (2014, May 24). Militants attack parliament building in Somalia. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/24/militants-attack-parliament-building-somalia.html

Associated Press. (2014, May 24). Pope to see Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/24/pope-see-syrian-refugee-crisis-jordan.html

BBC. (2014, May 16). Kenya’s Nairobi hit by twin bomb blasts in Gikomba market. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27443474

BBC. (2014, May 24). Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Middle East visit. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27551843

BBC. (2014, May 24). Somalia parliament attacked by al-Shabab in Mogadishu. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27554498

BBC. (2014, May 29). Maya Angelou ‘the brightest light’ says Barrack Obama. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27606776

Chapman, S. & Routledge, C. (Eds.). (2009). Key ideas in linguistics and the philosophy of language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Feitosa, M. P. (2006). Developing and applying CROSF: A numeric code proposed for corpora annotation based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. Proceeding 33rd International Systemic Functional Congress, 1130-1150

Halliday, M. A. K., and Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed). London: Arnold

Hermawan, B. (n. d.). Theme Progression and Transitivity Analysis of Dongeng-Dongeng Sasakala Berbahasa Sunda.Bandung: Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Department of English Education

Italie, H. Maya Angelou, poet and author, dies at 86. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/29/maya-angelou-poet-and-author-dies-86.html

Mersey, R. D. (2010). Revaluating Stamm’s theory of newspaper and communities in a new media environment: Toward a new theory based on identity and interdependence. Northwestern University Law Review, 104(2), 517-536

Wang, L. (2007). Theme and rheme in the thematic organization of text: Implication for teaching academic writing. Asian EFL Journal, 9(1), 164-176.

Yule, G. (2010). The study of language. New York: Cambridge University Press

Appendices

Militants attack parliament building in Somalia

(taken from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/24/militants-attack-parliament-building-somalia.html)

Militants in Mogadishu on Saturday carried out a multi-pronged, complex attack against the country's parliament building involving a car bomb, suicide bomber and gunmen on foot, police said.

At least seven people were killed, including six attackers and one soldier who tried to stopped a suicide bomber from entering the building, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein.

Many members of parliament were inside the building as the attack unfolded.

Gunfire and two blasts rang out near the building long after the attack began and after police had confirmed six attackers' deaths, suggesting other militants may have also been involved. Security forces shot and killed four men, Hussein said. The two other attackers who died were the driver of the car bomb and the bomber on foot.

Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group, has carried out several such complex attacks in Mogadishu, including on the city's main court complex and attempts against the presidential palace. The group was booted out of the capital in 2011 but still controls wide areas of southern Somalia.

Somalia parliament attacked by al-Shabab in Mogadishu(taken from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27554498)

Islamist militants from the al-Shabab movement have attacked the Somali parliament in Mogadishu, leaving several people dead.

Explosions and gunfire were heard and witnesses reported seeing bodies.

Somali police were joined by African Union troops as they engaged the attackers.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, once controlled large areas of Somalia but was pushed out of major cities in 2011 and 2012.

However, it is still able to mount complex attacks. It has frequently targeted the UN-backed parliament.

A car bomb outside the gates of parliament exploded shortly before midday local time (09:00 GMT), followed by more blasts and bursts of gunfire.

1. "The lawmakers and the other workers were rescued as soon as the car bomb exploded. But the terrorists are still firing from inside a mosque nearby," the Reuters news agency quoted a police colonel as saying.

Four police officers had died, he told Reuters.

It is not clear whether gunmen managed to get inside the building on Saturday.

An al-Shabab spokesman told the AFP news agency: "The so-called Somali parliament is a military zone. Our fighters are there to carry out a holy operation."

African Union (AU) troops from the 22,000-strong Amisom security force joined the Somali army in fighting the insurgents around parliament, an Amisom spokesman said.

Operations were continuing at 10:30 GMT, he said.

Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since its government collapsed in 1991.

With Mogadishu and other towns now under government control, basic services such as street lighting and rubbish collection have now resumed.

Many Somalis have returned from exile, bringing their money and skills with them.

The parliament in Mogadishu - which operated as a transitional assembly from 2004 to 2012 - has been attacked several times, including in 2009 and 2010.

Last month, a Somali parliamentarian was blown up and another shot dead in separate attacks.

In February, al-Shabab militants attacked the presidential palace in Mogadishu, leaving at least 16 people dead.

Al-Shabab, whose name means "The Youth" in Arabic, advocates the strict Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam.

Pope to see Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan

(taken from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/24/pope-see-syrian-refugee-crisis-jordan.html)

On the first leg of his three-day Mideast trip, Pope Francis will get a firsthand look at the plight of Syrian refugees and witness the toll the civil war next door is taking on Jordan.

Francis frequently has lamented the plight of refugees, denouncing the "globalization of indifference" that often greets them in their newly adopted homelands. At the same time, he and his predecessors have decried the flight of Christians from the Holy Land, insisting recently: "We will not be resigned to think about the Middle East without Christians!"

After meeting with King Abdullah II and Queen Rania at the royal palace, Francis is due to celebrate Mass on Saturday in Amman's International Stadium. The Vatican expects some 25,000 people to attend, many of them Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Later, he will meet one-on-one with refugees and disabled children at a church in Bethany beyond the Jordan, which many believe is the traditional site of Jesus' baptism.

Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria's population, but assaults on predominantly Christian towns by rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad's rule have fueled fears among the country's religious minorities about the growing role of Islamic extremists in the revolt. Christians believe they are being targeted in part because of anti-Christian sentiment among Sunni Muslim extremists and partly as punishment for what is seen as their support for Assad.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Francis wants to offer comfort to all Christians who live in the region and encourage them to stay.

"These Christians are living stones, and without their presence, the Holy Land and its holy sites risk becoming a museum," Parolin told Vatican Television on the eve of the trip.

Jordan last month opened a third camp for Syrian refugees, a stark indication of the strains the civil war is creating for the country. The sprawling facility is designed to accommodate up to 130,000 people and potentially become the world's second-largest refugee camp. Jordan is hosting 600,000 registered Syrian refugees, or 10 percent of its population. Jordanian officials estimate the real number is closer to 1.3 million.

For the Syrian Christians who will greet Francis, his presence is a chance to show the world their hopelessness as the conflict drags on.

"We are very happy because he will see Christians in the Arab world, he will see us and see our suffering," said Nazik Malko, a Syrian Orthodox Christian refugee from Maaloula who will be among the 600 or so people to greet the pope at Bethany beyond the Jordan. "We wish that peace will be restored in the whole world, and in Syria."

Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Middle East visit

(taken from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27551843)

Pope Francis has arrived in Jordan at the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East which will also take him to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

He is due to be welcomed by King Abdullah II. He will celebrate Mass in a stadium in Amman before later meeting Syrian refugees.

The official purpose of the visit is to improve ties with the Orthodox Church.

But correspondents say many will expect Pope Francis to use his influence to try to ease tensions in the region.

The Pope was met at the airport by Prince Ghazi, an adviser to King Abdullah for religious and cultural affairs, and by two children in traditional Jordanian dress who handed him flowers.

He told journalists that the trip would be "challenging" but rewarding, AP reports.

"My heart beats and is looking to love," he said.

Four killed in twin Nairobi blasts

(from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/17/four-killed-twin-nairobi-blasts.html)

Four people have been killed in two explosions in a busy market area in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the National Disaster Operation Center said Friday.

The center said the first blast occurred on a 14-seater matatu, or public minibus, and the second was inside Gikomba Market, situated to the east of Nairobi’s central business district. The Kenyan Red Cross said five of its ambulances were evacuating casualties from the scene of the blasts.

The apparent bombings come amid a wave of attacks in both Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, and come days after several countries issued new warnings about travelling in Kenya. On Thursday and Friday, hundreds of British tourists were being evacuated from beach resorts near Mombasa because of the travel warnings.

Kenya's Nairobi hit by twin bomb blasts in Gikomba market

(from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27443474)

At least 10 people have been killed and scores more injured in a twin bombing in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Police said two improvised explosive devices had been detonated in the sprawling Gikomba market.

Meanwhile hundreds of UK tourists were evacuated from the coastal resort area of Mombasa amid warnings of an attack.

In recent years, Kenya has been hit by a spate of attacks, mostly been blamed on the al-Shabab militant Islamist group from neighbouring Somalia.

British tour companies have suspended flights to Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city.

High threat

The Kenyan National Disaster Operation Centre said the first explosion occurred in a minibus, the second in the large open-air Gikomba market.

Two people were reportedly arrested near the scene of the explosions.

Pictures from the scene showed clothing blown onto telephone wires above.

Fire engines and the Red Cross were at the scene tending the injured.

Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said at least 70 people had been wounded.

"Many of the injured are bleeding profusely. We need a lot of blood," a spokesman said.

President Kenyatta vowed to fight "evil" terrorism following the attacks.

"All of us around the world must be united to ensure that we are able to fight this particular terror," he said at a news conference.

Earlier this week, authorities tightened security at bus stations. They also ordered all vehicles to have clear glass windows.

Friday's bombings took place two days after the UK, France and the US warned there was a high threat of attacks in Kenya.

Kenya had criticised the warnings, saying the tourism industry would be affected.

Correspondents say many Kenyans are expressing their frustration at the worsening insecurity.

The government recently rounded up refugees of Somali origin in an attempt to rid Nairobi of militants they believe to be hiding among refugees.

The al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab has launched a series of attacks against Kenyan targets in recent years, claiming to be retaliating for Kenya's military involvement in Somalia since 2011.

Last September, at least 67 people were killed when al-Shabab fighters seized the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi for four days.

Earlier this year, there were riots in Mombasa after a radical Muslim cleric accused of recruiting youngsters for al-Shabab was shot dead.

Maya Angelou ‘the brightest light’ says Barrack Obama

(taken from http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27606776)

US President Barack Obama has led the tributes to Maya Angelou, describing the poet, author and activist as "one of the brightest lights of our time".

He hailed Angelou, who has died aged 86, as "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman".

She made her name with the memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which charted a childhood of oppression and abuse in the Deep South in the 1930s.

Her family described her as "a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace".

In a statement on Facebook, they said she passed away quietly at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at 08:00 EST (12:00 GMT).

"Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belaboured by a loss of acuity or comprehension," they said.

"She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being... The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love."

Mr Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian award, in 2011.

He said: "Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things - an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer.

"But above all, she was a storyteller - and her greatest stories were true.

"A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking - but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves."

Raised by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of seven. After she told her family what had happened, the boyfriend was killed.

"I thought my voice had killed him, so it was better not to speak - so I simply stopped speaking," she said. She remained mute for five years, but read voraciously.

Former President Bill Clinton, who invited Angelou to read at his 1993 inauguration, said America had lost a national treasure and he and wife Hillary had lost "a beloved friend".

"The poems and stories she wrote and read to us in her commanding voice were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace," he said.

"I will always be grateful for her electrifying reading of On the Pulse of Morning at my first inaugural, and even more for all the years of friendship that followed."

Others paying tribute included civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson, who wrote on Twitter: "The renaissance woman has made a peaceful transition. She acted, sang, danced & taught She used poetry as a road for peace."

Harry Potter author JK Rowling tweeted one of Angelou's quotes: "'If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.' Maya Angelou - who was utterly amazing."

A statement from Wake Forest University, where Angelou had been professor of American studies since 1982, said: "Dr Angelou was a national treasure whose life and teachings inspired millions around the world."

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which dealt with the racism and family trauma of her upbringing, spent two years on the US best-seller list after its publication in 1970. It was the first of seven memoirs.

After the poverty, violence and segregation of her childhood, she became a singer, a dancer, cocktail waitress, prostitute and an actress before beginning her writing career.

Her career had many outlets, straddling television, theatre, film, children's books and music.

Angelou was also a prominent civil rights activist and a friend of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Through her writing and interviews, her strength and eloquence as a role model for those seeking to overcome inequality and injustice won her many admirers.

In her final Facebook post on Monday, she said an "unexpected medical emergency" had forced her to cancel an engagement.

Maya Angelou, poet and author, dies at 86

(taken from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/29/maya-angelou-poet-and-author-dies-86.html)

Maya Angelou, a modern Renaissance woman who survived the harshest of childhoods to become a force on the printed page, the stage, screen and the inaugural dais, has died, her son said. She was 86.

Angelou's son, Guy B. Johnson, said the writer died Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had been a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University since 1982.

Tall and regal, with a deep, majestic voice, Angelou defied all probability and category, becoming one of the first black women to enjoy mainstream success as an author and thriving in virtually every artistic medium. The young single mother who worked at strip clubs to earn a living later wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. The childhood victim of rape wrote a million-selling memoir, befriended Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and performed on stages around the world.

An actress, singer and dancer in the 1950s and 1960s, she broke through as an author in 1969 with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which became standard (and occasionally censored) reading, and was the first of a multipart autobiography that continued through the decades. In 1993, she was a sensation reading her cautiously hopeful "On the Pulse of the Morning" at President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. Her confident performance openly delighted Clinton and made the poem a best-seller, if not a critical favorite. For President George W. Bush, she read another poem, "Amazing Peace," at the 2005 Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House.

She was a mentor to Oprah Winfrey, whom she befriended when Winfrey was still a local television reporter, and often appeared on her friend's talk show program. She mastered several languages and published not just poetry, but advice books, cookbooks and children's stories. She wrote music, plays and screenplays, received an Emmy nomination for her acting in the 1977 miniseries "Roots," and never lost her passion for dance, the art she considered closest to poetry.

Her very name as an adult was a reinvention. Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis and raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and San Francisco, moving back and forth between her parents and her grandmother. She was smart and fresh to the point of danger, packed off by her family to California after sassing a white store clerk in Arkansas. Other times, she didn't speak at all: At age 7, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend and didn't speak for years. She learned by reading, and listening.

At age 9, she was writing poetry. By 17, she was a single mother. In her early 20s, she danced at a strip joint, ran a brothel, was married (to Enistasious Tosh Angelos, her first of three husbands) and then divorced. By her mid-20s, she was performing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, where she shared billing with another future star, Phyllis Diller.

Angelou was little known outside the theatrical community until "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," a book occasionally attacked for its content.

In a 1999 essay in Harper's, author Francine Prose criticized "Caged Bird" as "manipulative" melodrama. Meanwhile, Angelou's passages about her rape and teen pregnancy have made it a perennial on the American Library Association's list of works that draw complaints from parents and educators.

"'I thought that it was a mild book. There's no profanity," Angelou told The Associated Press. "It speaks about surviving, and it really doesn't make ogres of many people. I was shocked to find there were people who really wanted it banned, and I still believe people who are against the book have never read the book."