17 November 2010

Stories from 17 November 2010

Korea: Serious Concerns Over Possible Volcanic Eruption in N. Korea

  17 November 2010

As South Korean government discusses launching a task force to prepare for possible volcanic eruption of Mount Paekdu, the highest mountain in North Korea, twitterers have nervously retweeted Wikitree's article[ko] telling that the Paekdu's eruption may cause far greater damage than Iceland's volcanic eruption did in April.

Brazil: new wave of discussion of the role of “Militant Atheists”

  17 November 2010

On October 10, the famous liberation theologian Frei Betto wrote an article in a major Brazilian newspaper, Folha de São Paulo – reproduced by the Blog do Miro [Miro's Blog, pt] –  in which he compared “militant atheism” with torture. Atheists reactions came quickly [pt], expressing disappointment with the “explicit...

Mozambique: Anger at multinational pollution in Maputo

  17 November 2010

An aluminum smelter near Maputo owned by multinational company BHP Billiton began today a “bypass” operation. Campaigners say this means that polluting emissions from the Mozal Plant will go unfiltered for 4-5 months, near a metropolitan area of over 2 million. Blogger JPT at Ma-schamba blog [pt] called this “corporate...

Russia: Members of the Anarchist Art Group “Voina” Arrested

RuNet Echo  17 November 2010

2 members of the notorious anarchist art group “Voina” (“War”) have been arrested in Moscow due to accusations of  organization of a hooligan group, fontanka.ru reported [RUS]. Turning over a police car during the latest art action could be the reason of the prosecution (photo and video reports from “Voina”‘s...

China: iPadgate

  17 November 2010

Since October Chinese Customs have started charging a 20% tax for carrying iPhones and iPads across the border even if the products were out of the box and in use. This has caught people by surprise because in recent years shopping tours are one of the most important parts of the cross-border economy between Hong Kong and China.

China: Sanyo workers in Shenzhen stage strike

  17 November 2010

China Labour Bulletin reports that more than a thousand workers at Sanyo Huaqiang Laser Electronics in Shenzhen’s Longhua district staged a one day strike last week over working conditions and a planned merger with a factory in another district in downtown Shenzhen.