Good Reads: World reacts to Troy Davis execution with vigils, debates

"Americans seem to be more disgusted with death-row in Saudi Arabia and Iran than they are in our own country. If you murder one person, you get sentenced to jail or death. If you murder millions, it's "mission accomplished" #landofthefree"
Nadine
Palestinan blogger

Interestingly, though, many of the papers with the strongest headlines on Troy Davis didn’t have reporters on the scene, but instead used the Associated Press, Reuters, or other wire services to cover the execution and the death penalty debate. Just an observation...

Meanwhile, in New York, the speeches of President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy at the UN General Assembly meeting refocused the debate on the Palestinian bid for full membership as a sovereign nation-state. Few newspapers expressed optimism that the bid would get past the UN Security Council, where the US has vowed to block it, but there is a possibility that the General Assembly could hold a vote to allow the Palestinian Authority to upgrade to nonvoting observer state – a status currently held only by the Vatican.

The New York Times’ Helene Cooper covered President Obama’s attempt at diplomatic persuasion, urging the Palestinians to eschew unilateral symbolic moves and to return to the negotiation table with Israel – an effort McClatchy newspaper's Lesley Clark and Jonathan Landay reported as having failed. Meanwhile, on the West Bank, the Guardian’s Phoebe Greenwood Harriet Sherwood in Nablus met with the Palestinian people themselves in Ramallah and Nablus, finding a range of opinions, from resignation to anger.

"This is the beginning of the third intifada," activist Ashraf Abu Rahma said, taking cover from a blast of teargas. "Everyone says they want peace but it is not possible. There will be more violence. I brought several young boys with me today to fight."

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