Words in the News Monday 25 November 2002 Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
Miss World demonstrations Summary: Funerals are taking place today in the Nigerian city of Kaduna following demonstrations in which more than two hundred people are known to have died. The protests were caused by an article in a national newspaper which made light of Muslim objections to the holding of the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria. This report from Dan Isaacs
The government here has been severely shaken by the events of the last few days. It's international credibility has been unquestionably damaged. Within the country political divisions have been further widened by the conflict and support for the government from the Muslim north, so crucial in elections due in just a few months' time, is being severely tested. Many ordinary Muslims are blaming the government for allowing the Miss World pageant into Nigeria and for failing to deal swiftly enough with the violent protests that followed. Looking to lay the blame elsewhere the government has launched a powerful attack on the international media.
Information minister Jerry Gana released a statement in which he says there has been an international media conspiracy against Nigeria, to highlight the controversy surrounding the beauty pageant and fanning the flames of violence. He added that Nigerians should be really angry with the international media. Following a similar theme pageant promoter Guy Murray-Bruce has said that the international press highlighted a little incidence of some rioting way out of all proportion.
