In the week leading up to the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, we've seen several issues vie for prominence. Obviously, the ten-year anniversary of those attacks is a major media event, and the 'look back' pieces are coming thick and fast here at SBS, and other media outlets around the world.
Libya is still a huge story – and you can bet your socks that when Colonel Gaddafi turns up, he'll be getting more than a few headlines. And on the domestic front, the issue that never falters in the Australian media – asylum seekers and migration – has proven popular with readers of SBS News online, as well.
But – as a picture tells a thousand words, or at least 140 characters – our week that was gallery, featuring some of the top shots from our agency partners around the world, took out the top gong this week.
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There have plenty of comments on 9/11 this week. Many of you remain unconvinced of the story of how the Twin Towers fell, and many more rue the decade of war waged in the name of defeating Islamic terrorism. The UK's launching of a 9/11 website for schoolchildren certainly raised some interest, especially considering the Mayor of London's plans to end conspiracy theories. A number of readers less than happy with the official explanation had their say in the comments section
Yet this 9/11 yarn was only a little more popular than the next; claims in a Canadian newspaper that China had offered Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi weapons. Reports in the French press earlier in the week also claimed that the Transitional National Council (the 'rebels' as we've been calling them) had worked out oil deals with the countries that assisted them, and had frozen out those that didn't at the UN table – namely China and Russia. Whether all of these claims will hold weight, history will tell.
Across the Atlantic, the US Republicans are deciding who will challenge President Obama. There have been some raised eyebrows at one or two of the candidates – not least 'crazy eyes' Michelle Bachmann, and this report of two of the apparently more serious candidates squaring off, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, caught a few clicks.
Asylum Seekers! Yes, foreign people are seeking asylum in Australia and will likely continue to. Asylum seekers: Where Australia stands put some of the issues in context, and like most articles and explainers on this topic, it rated well, coming in at five this week.
On a related issue and in number six, right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders has put Muslims and other immigrants on alert in the Netherlands with views that have seen him denied entry into the UK. But Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi isn't fussed about that – he's offered to help arrange a trip to Australia for Wilders, and copped a little criticism for doing so.
As World News Reporter Manny Tsigas pointed out this week, everything's bigger in Texas, including its fires. Huge and fatal wildfires tore through the US state, one of which claimed over 1000 properties. News that the fires were being described as 'catastrophic' came in at number eight, right before another piece on Libya. Files showed that UK intelligence agency MI6, as well as America's CIA, got a little too close to their Libyan counterparts for some. They may have helped to have Gaddafi's opponents rounded up, but now they're likely to have to work with them. The strange world of realpolitik.
Oh social networkers, when will you learn? Well, granted, this one's from 2009, but it's a classic and was obviously picked up somewhere. Ladies, calling one's boss a 'pervy wanker' is ALWAYS best carried out when one is not a Facebook friend with that very same pervy wanker. The boss pointed out that, actually, he's gay, so there, and the fine employee in question needn't come in anymore. We wonder whether she's found gainful employment since in that tough UK market.
And if you forgot what with all that blanket asylum-seeker coverage, there's another issue which could cost Labor power in Canberra. It's called a carbon tax and is proving slightly controversial. Yet Australia is far from alone on such an endeavour, and, as usual, our Carbon taxes around the world article just squeezed into the top ten. How nice to end on a bit of context!
