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North Korea

Report: First Private Banks And ATMs Come To North Korea

Is capitalism coming to Kim Jong-un's North Korea?

According to South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, North Koreans who got rich thanks to state-backed monopolies are being encouraged by the regime to open small banks across the capital in a bid to boost the free economy. Some of the money-lenders even have installed ATMs, though these are restricted to hotels, the newspaper reports, citing a source who often travels to Pyongyang.

Chosun Ilbo however notes that this isn't a sign that the dire state of the country's economy is improving. On the contrary, the gap between rich and poor is growing, as is discontent among the population.

The newspaper also reports that, according to another source, wreaths laid at the tomb of Kim Jong-suk, wife of regime founder Kim Il-sung, were damaged on the anniversary of her death. No doubt, banks or no banks, someone is bound to pay for that.

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Society

Mapping The Patriarchy: Where Nine Out Of 10 Streets Are Named After Men

The Mapping Diversity platform examined maps of 30 cities across 17 European countries, finding that women are severely underrepresented in the group of those who name streets and squares. The one (unsurprising) exception: The Virgin Mary.

Photo of Via della Madonna dei Monti in Rome, Italy.

Via della Madonna dei Monti in Rome, Italy.

Eugenia Nicolosi

ROME — The culture at the root of violence and discrimination against women is not taught in school, but is perpetuated day after day in the world around us: from commercial to cultural products, from advertising to toys. Even the public spaces we pass through every day, for example, are almost exclusively dedicated to men: war heroes, composers, scientists and poets are everywhere, a constant reminder of the value society gives them.

For the past few years, the study of urban planning has been intertwined with that of feminist toponymy — the study of the importance of names, and how and why we name things.

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