Around the world: International headlines split between Middle East war and Ebola virus
International coverage by Canadian news outlets split focus between the military movements in Iraq and Syria with worldwide Ebola coverage.
By Jake English, for the International Reporting Bureau at Humber College
The wars in Syria and Iraq continue to share space with Ebola headlines in the international sections of most Canadian news outlets.
The Globe and Mail ran a two-page spread inside Thursday’s paper under the headline “The peshmerga’s big test.” Coverage of the unfolding conflict included agency reports, and was anchored by a profile of the “swashbuckling” Kurdish fighters by the newspaper’s long-time Middle East specialist Patrick Martin.
The Toronto Star led its world section with an Associated Press story headlined “Al Qaeda seeks Islamic State alliance.” The Washington-datelined story was written by Deb Riechmann and Bassem Mroue. AP reported Al Qaeda is now seeking to join forces with the Islamic State to fight Western led armies in Iraq and Syria.
CTV News topped its online world section with a story on the advancement of Kurdish peshmerga fighters into the Syrian town of Kobani. The AP story ran under the headline “First Kurdish peshmerga fighters reported entering Kobani from Turkey.” It was illustrated with a picture of two bombs falling on the city shot by AP photographer Vadim Ghirda.
The National Post remained focused on Ebola with the front page headline “Nurse’s Ebola standoff reaches border town.” Dave Philips of The New York Times reported the story.
Global News also topped its online world section with the continuing coverage of the Ebola epidemic. The AP report from the Liberian capital of Monrovia ran under the headline “‘Good progress’ made against Ebola outbreak in Liberia” and featured a photograph of a burial team lowering a woman into a grave.
CBC shifted away from both the coverage of Ebola and the wars in the Middle East. The broadcaster led its online world section with a Reuters story on riots in Burkina Faso. The piece reported by Mathieu Bonkoungou and Joe Penney was headlined “Burkina Faso protesters burn parliament, ransack state TV.” A photo of a shirtless man holding a rock in front of a street fire ran with the story.
