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Art by Reuben Buchananl VOX Staff

By Catherine Cai
VOX Staff

Tibet Violence Complicates Olympic Games
Recent riots for freedom in Tibet have sparked international political controversy, making the Beijing Summer Olympics a tense topic. U.S. Presidential Democratic front-runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both urged President Bush to consider boycotting the games. These protests are meant to place pressure on the Chinese government to compromise with Tibet, a Western region under Chinese rule, where the March protests for freedom ended in violence. According to CNN, the quiet protests took a turn when Chinese police blocked a march on the Capitol. There, demonstrators started throwing rocks and concrete, pushing back riot police, who used teargas and gunshots to quell the crowd. Protesters in several countries, including France, Great Britain, and Greece, have experienced large-scale demonstrations criticizing the Chinese government’s actions and rallying for Free Tibet. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have both debated a boycott as well. If China fails to negotiate with Tibet, the struggle may complicate plans for the 2008 Olympic games.

Rising Rice Prices Incite Riots
The rice crisis begins to affect American citizens, as shoppers, alarmed by increasing prices of rice and food shortages in other countries, attempt to stock up on rice, forcing warehouses like Sam’s Club to limit the sales to four bags per customer. According to ABC News, the cost of rice has increased 68 percent globally just since the beginning of this year. The rising cost of rice has strained the lifestyles of citizens in multiple countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where people rely heavily on rice as a food staple. Haiti, Indonesia and several other countries have already experienced food riots because of this strained situation.

MySpace Comments Lead to Teen Beating
In late March, six teen girls from Lakeland, Fla. were charged with beating up their 16-year-old classmate, Victoria Lindsay. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lindsay was lured into one of the girl’s houses, where she was then hit on the head repeatedly and slammed into a wall. The beating continued for about half an hour. The six girls filmed the whole attack and posted the video, which shows them laughing and encouraging each other, on the Internet. All six girls were charged with several felony counts, while Lindsay was treated for a concussion and bruises. According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, this all stemmed from a few nasty words spread through MySpace and text messages.

Harry Potter Encyclopedia Thwarted
J.K. Rowling, the author of the beloved Harry Potter series, has challenged librarian Steve Vander Ark with a copyright infringement case over his plans to publish a Harry Potter reference guide. The reference guide was to be named the Harry Potter Lexicon after his fan website, which includes a glossary of spells, a list of potions, and a handbook to magic sports played in the Harry Potter novels. According to the New York Times, Rowling actually praised the website before Vander Ark and his publisher attempted to put the site into print for profit. Rowling, on the other hand, defends herself by revealing her own plans to publish an encyclopedia, and criticizes the Lexicon as a guide “riddled with errors.”

Akon Fakes Criminal Past
According to a report by The Smoking Gun, a crime-tracking Web site that obtains documents from the government, Grammy-nominated R&B and Hip-Hop artist Akon may have pretended to have more criminal charges than he really does. The report states that Akon only has two charges on record, and never faced the “75 years” he claimed to in the past. Akon refers to criminal activity frequently in his music. His 2004 hit single was named “Locked Up,” and one of his albums is named “Konvicted.” News that Akon may have exaggerated his charges won’t help the stereotype that rap and hip-hop music glorify crime.