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China

China Tightens Internet Control: Bans Anonymity, Allows Government To Delete Posts

XINHUA (China), VOICE OF AMERICA (USA), REUTERS

Worldcrunch

BEIJING - Chinese legislature has passed a law that includes mandatory real-name registration for Internet users, Xinhua reported on Friday.

The new rules were announced by the official Xinhua news agency on Twitter:

Rules approved Friday in China to enhance protection of personal info online and safeguard public interests twitter.com/XHNews/status/…

— Xinhua News Agency (@XHNews) Décembre 28, 2012


Chinese authorities and Internet companies like Sina Corp have been working together to censor and monitor what people say online. But the government has now put measures such as deleting posts into law, reports Reuters.

"The law should escort the development of the internet to protect people's interest," Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said in a front page commentary, reports Voice of America. "Only that way can our Internet be healthier, more cultured and safer."

The Chinese government says that tighter monitoring of the Internet is required to prevent people making malicious and anonymous accusations online, disseminating pornography and spreading panic with unfounded rumors, reports Reuters.

These new restrictions follow a series of corruption scandals amongst lower-level officials exposed by Internet users.

Earlier this year, the government began forcing users of Sina Corp's popular Weibo microblogging platform to register their real names.

Popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked in China.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Palestinian Olive Trees Are Also Under Israeli Occupation — And That's Not A Joke

In the West Bank, a quieter form of oppression has been plaguing Palestinians for a long time. Their olive groves are surrounded by soldiers, and it's forbidden to harvest the olives – this economic and social violence has gotten far worse since Oct. 7.

A Palestinian woman holds olives in her hands

In a file photo, Um Ahmed, 74, collects olives in the village of Sarra on the southwest of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Mohammed Turabi/ZUMA
Francesca Mannocchi

HEBRON – It was after Friday prayers on October 13th of last year, and Zakaria al-Arda was walking along the road that crosses his property's hillside to return home – but he never made it.

A settler from Havat Ma'on — an outpost bordering Al-Tuwani that the United Nations International Law and Israeli law considers illegal — descended from the hill with his rifle in hand.

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After kicking al-Arda, who tried to defend himself, the settler shot him in the abdomen. The bullet pierced through his stomach, a few centimeters below the lungs. Since then, al-Arda has been in the hospital in intensive care. A video of those moments clearly shows that neither al-Arda nor the other worshippers leaving the mosque were carrying any weapons.

The victim's cousin, Hafez Hureini, still lives in the town of Al-Tuwani. He is a farmer, and their house on the slope of the town is surrounded by olive trees — and Israeli soldiers. On the pine tree at the edge of his property, settlers have planted an Israeli flag. Today, Hafez lives, like everyone else, as an occupied individual.

He cannot work in his greenhouse, cannot sow his fields, and cannot harvest the olives from his precious olive trees.

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