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Tag: world politics

  • YouTube Banned By Turkish Government Less Than A Week After Twitter Ban

    Just a few days after the Turkish government blocked popular social networking site Twitter, it also imposed a crackdown on the video streaming site YouTube.

    Twitter, which has an estimated 10 million Turkish subscribers, was blocked by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the run-up to the local elections due to fears that voters will be influenced by what he calls “fake online tapes” that accuse him of corruption.

    International news agency Reuters quoted PM Erdogan at a rally last week, saying that he could not see why “people of good sense” could take the side of popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube because they carry “all of kinds of lies” there.

    Less than a week after the Twitter ban, Turkish YouTube users claimed to have been greeted by a message stating that  “administrative measure” had been taken against the site after “technical analysis and legal consideration” in accordance with Turkish law.

    A leaked audio recording of top government officials discussing potential military operations in Syria previously flooded the video website, thus prompting Turkey’s telecommunications authority (TIB) to take another administrative measure against it. There have been speculations that the government’s decision to remove YouTube access was made because PM Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were trying to do some damage control over recent corruption allegations.

    However, it was also reported that some users are able to access YouTube, while others aren’t.

    Turkish Twitter users were originally getting around the crackdown by modifying their Domain Name System settings. The Twitter ban has since been lifted following a ruling imposed by an Ankara court. However, an insider from PM Edrogan’s office claimed that the TIB still had 30 days to appeal or implement the court’s decision.

    PM Edrogan made a promise during the campaign trail that he would “wipe out” the service and that he did not care about the reaction of the international community regarding the matter.

    According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the seemingly hasty move to ban YouTube came after search engine Google turned down several requests from the Turkish government to remove videos featuring corruption accusations.

    At a rally held today, PM Erdogan described the leaked video on YouTube as “villainous”, and one of his officials claimed that it caused an issue of national security. The same source also stated that the government was negotiating with YouTube and that it may lift the ban if the video sharing site agreed to take down the incriminating content.

    Image via YouTube

  • Matteo Renzi To Lead New Italian Government

    Last Friday, Enrico Letta resigned as Italy’s prime minister after he was ousted from the position in a vote engineered by Matteo Renzi, his party rival, for delaying reform programs. As a result, President Giorgio Napolitano has tasked Renzi to take over Letta’s position. Renzi will be sworn in to be Italy’s prime minister within the next two days.

    Renzi has been the mayor of Florence since 2009. At just 39 years old, he will be Italy’s the youngest prime minister ever. At his age, he is just 2 months younger than Benito Mussolini, who ruled as Italy’s prime minister in 1922.

    With the news, Italy is willing to gamble on the young politician who is known to have a fresh perspective when it comes to the political caste. Renzi is also known as “The Scrapper” or “Il Rottamatore” for his ability to act on scrapping Italy’s political formation. He has very little political baggage and has the demeanor of a simple man with great ambition. He has high hopes for Italy’s reform, but still remains untested with the people as he will be appointed to position rather than being voted in place. Renzi will be the 3rd prime minister to be appointed.

    Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta steps down

    Renzi hopes that he has the support of the Italian people in his plans for implementing reforms faster in order to speed up the economy’s growth.

    Italians have given their piece on the issue. Some support Renzi’s innovative ideas and think that he has the determination to follow through with his plans for Italy. However, others are a bit doubtful of his policies and the way he got the position of prime minister.

    Renzi has now been given the power to make changes in Italy’s political system, and Italians just have to wait for results and hope that the new Italian government will have answers for problems the country is currently facing.

    Who is Matteo Renzi?

    Image via YouTube

  • Angela Merkel Suffers Skiing Injury In Swiss Alps

    On Monday it was announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel fractured her pelvis in a cross-country skiing accident. According to spokesman Steffen Seibert, the accident happened over the holidays and will cause Merkel to cancel most of her business trips including her upcoming trip to Poland. Consequently, she will need extra rest for the next three weeks in order to recover.

    “It makes it necessary for her to lie down a lot for three weeks and to use a walking aid,” said Seibert.

    The 59-year-old chancellor fell during her yearly ski vacation in the Alpine Region of Engadine, Switzerland.  She initially thought that she had sustained a bruise but later realized that she had a pelvic fracture after consulting her doctor, said Seibert. The Chancellor suffered severe bruising and a partial fracture on the left, rear part of her pelvis. The injury will require her to use crutches just like she did following a knee surgery she underwent 3 years ago.

    Although her spokesman did not give specific details on how the accident occurred, he said that she was not skiing fast at the time of the accident.

    On Wednesday, Ms. Merkel is expected to chair a coalition cabinet meeting and it is unlikely that her condition will deter her. Germany is under a coalition government because Merkel’s Conservative Christian Democratic Union party did not win a majority in last year’s elections. Other than that, she is expected to work from home. She did, however, postponed her meeting on Thursday with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

    Merkel’s injury comes just days after Germany’s legendary race car driver Michael Schumacher had a life threatening skiing accident at Meribel resort in France. At the time of Schumacher’s accident Merkel sent him well wishes for a speedy recovery but now she find herself the victim of a skiing accident too.

    Image via YouTube

  • Yasser Arafat: Forensics Show He May Have Been Poisoned

    A report published by a team of experts from Lausanne University Hospital’s Institute of radiation now concludes that Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned. Arafat’s remains are being studied by three teams from Switzerland, France and Russia following the request of his widow, Suha. Suha had given Al Jazeera permission to access his medical records and other personal effects with the aim of determining the cause of his death. The other teams from Russia and France have not yet published their reports.

    The results show that the former leader might have died of Polonium-210 poisoning.  According to the same report, “polonium is normally deposited in soft tissue rather than the bone”. When the bones were examined for polonium, the scientist discovered traces of the poison in various parts like the rib, the sternum, and in the crest of the skull. In total, there were about 900 milibecquerels of polonium in Arafat’s remains, a level that is between 18-36 times the averages according to Dave Barclay, a U.K. forensic scientist.

    Following the news, Arafat’s widow said on Wednesday that the report has confirmed all doubts and that “We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination,”

    However, according to wired, polonium-210 has half-life of 138 days, meaning that the possibility of still finding any trace of polonium after 8 years is negligible. Therefore, what was discovered might have been a by-product of the body’s decay rather than polonium itself.

    Arafat died in 2004 at the age of 74, but there was no autopsy performed at the time, and the cause of his death has never been conclusively determined. This had been made difficult because immediately after Arafat’s death, evidence of his death were poorly documented, and samples destroyed.

    Following the reports, many Palestinians began speculating who might have poisoned Arafat, with many pointing fingers to Israel. However, Israel has strongly denied the charges through former Israel Spokesman, Raanan Gissin  who told the associated press that “if anyone poisoned him, it could have been someone from his close circle.”

    (image via Wikipedia)