The Pilgrimage to Hajj coverage by Al-Jazeera English

I decided to do my analysis on the special report Al-Jazeera has on the pilgrimage to the Hajj. This is a racially, culturally and religiously diverse group.

Muslims go to the Hajj and pay a visit to Mecca, Saudi Arabia as part of one of the central religious duties as Muslims. This year, close to 2.5 million people have gone to Hajj.

Al-Jazeera English has dedicated a section to this event. Most of the reporters, not all, were Muslim so you see them wearing the traditional Islamic dressings worn during Hajj and it really moves beyond the stereotypes about Muslims.

All the reporting are very good and they are first-hand experiences from the people themselves. I saw this story in which a little girl shares her own experience with the Hajj for the first time. There are blogs from people that are there and journalists that are there.

As a Muslim, I knew most of the things that they were talking about, however, I felt that someone with little knowledge about what exactly Muslims do during this time would find this very helpful.

The testimonies drove home for me. It was the people's stories that I enjoyed the most. The individuality and uniqueness in each story really made them stand out for me. I felt like the reporters did a good job in viewing Islam differently and bringing some positivity to it.

There are a lot of visuals, videos and testimonies to watch. Overall, I think they did a wonderful job.

White House defends Social Secretary

CNN - White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers has done a great job despite the "party crashers" incident, U.S. administration officials say.

Rogers has been identified as a close friend of the Obamas and has been center of a scrutiny the past couple of days. Republicans have claimed she was at fault for an incident in which two uninvited guests got into the White House state dinner held in honor for an Indian Prime Minister.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Rogers was too distracted by other things to enforce a proper security at the event. Gibbs told reporters that the Obamas and the White House staff are behind her.

Rogers has been the center of the media in recent days because the uninvited guests, Mr. and Mrs. Salahi, might have been danger to the president.

Head-on crash ends pregnancy; mom hurt

Pioneer Press - A pickup truck struck a Minneapolis woman who was pregnant when the vehicle drove the wrong way on a highway ramp Saturday night.

According Minnesota state patrol, the truck hit and slammed into a family's van around 11:45 p.m. at the 49th Avenue exit on Interstate Hwy. 94. 

A 29-year-old pregnant woman, Tao Thao, was critically hurt and in critical condition at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. Thao's other family members including her husband and five other children were in the van with her. 

The driver of the truck was identified as Connie Stroud, who had "too much to drink," said state patrol. 

Stroud, 42, of Minneapolis was also in critical condition Sunday afternoon. Stroud could be charged with driving while "intoxicated, criminal vehicular operation resulting in homicide and criminal vehicular operation resulting in injuries."

The crash came after the Minnesota state patrol and other police agencies gave a press conference about harsher crackdowns between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Somali suicide bombing kills 3 Cabinet ministers

Hiiraan News reported that Somalia's fragile and dim future faced another setback on Thursday, when a male suicide bomber dressed as a woman, killed 23 and wounded 40 more.

The bombing took place at the Hotel Shamo in Mogadishu ending a graduating ceremony for medical students of the local Banadir University, which was also being attended by a number of governmental authorities.

Witnesses said that the attack seemed to target governmental officials.

Three of the victims were ministers while most of the others were innocent students who were about to graduate. Education Minister Abdullahi Wayel, Health Minister Qamar Aden and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Adow died. As students were take their steps of their long road to education, someone decided to blast them all.

"Forty people with shrapnel wounds, including students, journalists, and medical doctors, have been hospitalized today. Six people died inside the hospital," said Dr. Ali Yusuf, director of Median Hospital.

Among the other dead includes two professors and two journalists. Some 50 other students were reported to have serious injuries.

Although aurthorities have reasons to believe that Al-Shabab, an Islamic militant organization close to Al Qaeda, is behind the bloodshed, the extremist group has denied any responsibility.

The spokesman for al-Shabab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, denies responsibility for the attack, suggesting it was the product of a feud within the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government.

From other reports I've read in VOA and other news sources, this attack has been one of the deadliest to hit Mogadishu for several months.

Somalia has been without a government since the late 1990's when the civil war broke out. It has since been facing some extreme setbacks with terrorist groups and warlords.