12 January 2013

Stories from 12 January 2013

New Palestinian Village Bab Al Shams Established in East Jerusalem

  12 January 2013

As part of the popular resistance movement in the Palestine, a group of about 250 Palestinian activists established the new village of Bab Al Shams or “The Gate of the Sun”, on a piece of confiscated land in Eastern Jerusalem, referred by Israeli authorities as “Area E1“. Despite an eviction notice from the Israeli army, the activists plan to spend the night in the tents they have set up there.

North Korea Broadcasts Google Exec Schmidt's Visit

  12 January 2013

North Korea Leadership Watch wrote a post (with several screengrabs) on how North Korean state media covered Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt's visit to the country. Members of delegations toured the Korea Computer Center in Pyongyang and learned about North Korea’s internet technology.

Peru: Discussing “Gastrofascism”

  12 January 2013

About a month ago, Javier Puente published on Selecting Stones, a critical article about the surge of Peruvian cuisine and, above all, about the role chef Gastón Acurio has in it. According to its author, Peasant and Chef: The Limits of Peruvian Gastro-Fascism, 1994-2012 is an attempt to “contextualize the...

Mobile Libraries Help Haitians Overcome Major Earthquake

  12 January 2013

Mobile libraries are helping Haitians overcome the devastating 2010 earthquake, providing intellectual resources, entertainment and assisting in essential matters such as health. By March 2013, the organisation Libraries Without Borders intends to launch another two mobile libraries to circulate through the most affected neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Recognition is growing about the value of reading in places suffering from conflicts and natural disasters.

Long Prison Terms for ‘Dissident’ Vietnam Bloggers

  12 January 2013

Vietnam convicted 14 Vietnamese bloggers and human rights defenders for participating in “activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration.” The activists were given long prison terms which range from 3 years to 13 years.

Pedophilia & Rape Accusations Flood the RuNet with Cruelty

RuNet Echo  12 January 2013

The Internet, any way you slice it, is a strange place populated by strange people. In the last few weeks, the Russian Internet—often your typical den of online cliques and conspiracy theorists—has boiled over the levees of "strange" and flooded the RuNet with a new intensity of bizarre moral recriminations. In the six days since RuNet Echo first reported on this story, top blogger Rustem Adagamov's situation has developed rapidly.

Jamaica: Debt Storm Coming?

  12 January 2013

The Jamaican blogosphere has been a bit prickly ever since the Chicago Tribune, in an editorial on January 8, 2013, compared Jamaica’s financial condition to that of Greece, considered by some to be the most precariously perched country in the global economy.