Oops! For Your Amusement

Slight language problem here methinks. This is the headline.

Huge waves hit US coastline, many homes damaged

And here's the story. Emphasis mine.

June 21, 2006, 07:45

Huges waves have hit the Central American coastline, damaging dozens of homes and properties in four countries. The waves were caused by a storm thousands of kilometres away in the South Pacific. The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said the Pacific storm had formed waves up to 4 metres high.

The high seas hit thousands of kilometres of coastline, from south-west Mexico to Panama. Reports say at least 20 homes and a small hotel had been swept away in Guatemala and Nicaragua. In El Salvador, about 30 homes and properties were flooded and two families evacuated.

Experts say these swells can travel great distances, explaining that the storm's origin could be as far away as New Zealand.

Apparently the headline writer saw "Central America" and, coupled with "Miami", took it as the US. And they didn't notice the "four countries" and the "south-west Mexico to Panama" bits or they are pretty bad at geography.

Note: That is the whole story so I won't link. Besides, I don't want to identify the source. They'll get ribbed enough as it is. If you're dying from curiosity, you can Google the headline.

However, I will say the mistake is more understandable if you know it is an African news source. And in most of the world America = US.