It's in the nation of South Africa.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/2009_in_photos_part_1_of_3.html

"Riot police contain supporters of Mozambique's national soccer team after their World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match against Kenya in Maputo, September 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Grant Lee Neuenburg)"

Damn, liddell. Nice work.

This is why I love the internet.

As a writer for Sci-Fi Wire, isn't researching the stories you post a part of your job? No, seriously.

I'm forced to agree with Rick. Once upon a time, the profession of 'journalism' actually required pesky things like properly attributing one's sources for a story. Not, "We have no idea where he is or why he's wearing it, but when we found this image over on Digg, we knew we had to share it with you." Oh, really? So 'Digg' doesn't know where it came from either? Or do they not bother to attribute their sources just like 'Sci Fi wire'? Great, now there are at least TWO websites that don't know what they're doing.

If 'liddell' can find the source of the photo, why can't Sci Fi wire or Digg? I'll tell you why. . .

Shoddy journalism. Or sheer laziness.

Uh, this is a blog, and Digg is a user-powered content aggregator. If you expect high journalistic standards from either of those things, you're doing it wrong.

Looks like YOU didn't do you research.

This is more than just a blog. It's a venue for SyFy to post news and information about science fiction films, TV shows, books, etc. A little journalistic effort and integrity wouldn't hurt, and in fact, is implied by the title Sci Fi Wire.

Thanks, liddell, for posting the photo information! (Unlike others who throw out answers with no evidence...grrr!)

@Rick and @Gndn71: If you'll accept that SciFiWire is a blog, not a news site, you'll feel better about their "reporting." I used to complain until it became clear that THIS is what SciFiWire wants to be now--a blog filled with endless best/most lists and half-developed stories.

Once I adjusted my standards (politely speaking), SciFiWire became much easier to read without grinding my teeth in anger.

Relax and enjoy the blog.

Does it really matter where it came from?

Aside from the fact that it was a shoddily painted Darth Vader mask, there is nothing even remotely Sci-Fi related.

Soldier with riot gear holding back a crowd isn't high on my Sci-Fi-O-meter.

Poorly researched *and* pointless? Yep, that's the Sci Fi Wire I know and can usually tolerate.

Isn't the mentality of "it's just a blog" fueling the flood of bias, misinformation, and even disinformation on the Internet?

On the lighter side of this being a blog post... did anyone else notice the control plate from Vader's chest hanging around this guys neck?

On the serious note... It would be nice if SciFiwire did a better job distinguishing between their blog entries and actual news stories. I've noticed several entries that were more to the "news" side but still contained errors or less than stellar journalism. I prefer this as a site that has information I can use and a few tidbits of entertaining fluff. It is fast becoming E! (sci fi edition).

Calling it a blog does not mean it can't have standards. "Blog" just referes to the method of delivery, not the content. There are plenty of perfectly good journalistic and science blogs that are well-researched, citing sources and all that, and many of them are written by people who do it for free. Syfy has no excuse when they are paying people to do it. They advertise the site as being for sci-fi news and related content. If they are going to advertise it as news, they really should feel an obligation to do basic research before posting a story. There is no legal obligation for them to do so of course, but if they are going to say they are journalists, which by saying they are a news feed that is exactly what they are saying, they should at least try to do some research.

Course, it is their blog and they have the right to put anything they want on it, but I agree that things posted as "news" should be researched. If they posted it as "here is something cool", then that would be different and the research would be less important.

Forget the vader mask, I am more impressed by the stretchy face abilities of the guy next to the guy in the vader mask lol.

a riot going on in another country?...probably soccer related.

If everyone really wants SciFiWire to have better journalistic standards, then everyone better pony up and help pay for it. It takes training, experience and hard work. Just like all of us with skills in a field, trained Journalists are not gonna give away their skills for little money (which, I'm sure, is what SciFiWire pays).

@Dr.Malcolm

That goes back to the debate about paying for Internet news content. Rupert Murdoch would champion that.

It seems that ScifiWire is becoming more and more like their ancestor site SciFi.com (I refuse to misspell that name...) It is drifting farther and farther away from the subject of SciFi and more toward sensationalized, stupid, or inaccurate info which has less and less to do with the site's stated subject matter. Someone needs to start a REAL Scifi news site with good reporting on relavent stories and lose all this meaningless fluff. They killed the SciFi channel by introducing all the non relavent crud like WWE wrestling, and all of the insipid so called paranormal shows which consist of people walking around in the dark with night vision and occasionally screaming for effect. Now they seem intent on killing SciFi wire in the same manner. I'm not sure what moronic little yuppie larva has taken over the network and the web site, but they need to be fired and replaced with an individual that at least has the cranial capacity of a Labrador Retriever...

While I agree with you in many ways, Sparrowlord, the problem is not what Syfy has done to the channel, but what people are watching. The fact of the matter is that WWE and the ghost shows bring in more viewers than the real science fiction shows. For all that people raved about BSG, more people were watching WWE.
They don't support real science fiction any more than they do because there are not enough of us watching it. So I suppose we should be glad for those shows, stupid and irritating as they are, because they pay for the shows we want (although they could save some money by not filming truly horrendous original movies).

@jdmimic

I believe the only reason they keep making horrendous original movies is because they actually make money, which means there is either a really lowbrow sci-fi audience out there, or a sci-fi starved audience willing to partake of SyFy's scraps because there's not much else.