Stories from 8 February 2013
European Regional Differences
Slovak NGO/think-tank Conservative Institute [en] blogged [sk] about the results of a study of 270 second-level EU regions (NUTS 2). Comparing changes in unemployment, they found that during 1990-2011, despite the growing amount of Euro-funds, the differences between the regions grew by about 4 percentage points. In more than 50...
Gay Korean Actor Reveals Coming Out Struggles
After Hong Suk-chun, the first openly gay actor in South Korea, discussed the struggles he has faced since coming out as a gay man in 2000 in a recent talk show, net users discussed the country's changing attitudes toward homosexuality and reflected on the reality that sexual minorities confront in South Korea.
Ecuador: Central Bank President Resigns Amid Forged Degree Scandal
Pedro Delgado, President Rafael Correa Delgado's cousin, resigns as the President of Ecuador's Central Bank after the scandal broke that he had forged his economics degree. The forgery was made public by opposition politician Enrique Herrería before the State Attorney General.
“Pedophile's Guide” Lands Russian Blogging Platform on Blacklist
Russia's Federal communications monitors have tagged blog-hosting portal lj.rossia.org as illegal, after discovering an account that publishes translations of the American book "The Pedophilia's Guide to Love and Pleasure" by Phillip Greaves.
Paraguay: Military Relationships
An article published [pt] by Natalia Viana and Jessica Mota on the Agency of Report and Investigative Journalism website notes that “Wikileaks documents reveal that the United States trained hundreds of Paraguayan police and army officers between 2005 and 2010 – among which we can find future military commanders of...
One Billion Rising: Global Day of Action, Fighting Violence Against Women
Every third woman will fall victim to rape or abuse in her lifetime. On February 14, 2013 an action day will take place worldwide to demand an end to the violence against women and girls. Countless events have also been organised in Germany and Switzerland.
Bangladesh: All Roads Lead To Shahbagh
The protests at Shahbagh intersection in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka continue for the fourth day. Protesters demand capital punishment for Jamaat-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah and other war criminals on trial.
Critic Rises within Communist Party of China
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has urged the Communist Party of China (CPC) to be more tolerant of criticism and receptive to the views of non-communists. His comment has drawn a lot of interests on Weibo and Twitter, some responded with hope, others reacted with skepticism. CHINA DIGITAL TIMES has more...
Japan's Corporate Slaves Put Humor to Hard Work
With a twist of comedy, moral and technical support has been pouring in across social media sites for Japan's "corporate slaves" or "Shachiku" as they are referred to in Japanese slang.
YouTube Removes North Korea Propaganda Video
The latest North Korea propaganda video that shows an animated version of New York city in flames, had been removed from YouTube as a video game maker, Activision, filed a copyright infringement complaint. North Korea Tech explains more about the video.
The Romanian-Hungarian “War of the Flags”
Hungarian Spectrum writes about the ongoing diplomatic confrontation between Romania and Hungary, sparked by the Romanian authorities’ ban on flying the flag of the Székely Land, an ethnic Hungarian enclave currently demanding territorial autonomy within Romania.
Protesting Cyrillic, “Collectivising Guilt” in Croatia
Balkan Anarchist weighs in on the protests against the use of the Cyrillic script in Vukovar‘s public spaces: […] I believe that we, decent and honest Serbs, should be ashamed of what was done in the name of Serbdom during the '90s and condemn it all unequivocally! And I also...
