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North Korea

U.S. Citizen Sentenced To 15 Years Hard Labor In North Korea Starts Life In "Special Prison"

KCNA (North Korea), AP

Worldcrunch

PYONYANG - U.S. citizen Pae Jun-ho who was recently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea, has started life a "special prison," state media said Wednesday.

Pae, known in the U.S. as Kenneth Bae, has been detained in North Korea since last November. He was tried on April 30, for allegedly committing “hostile acts against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” reportsthe North Korean News Agency.

In a brief dispatch, the state-owned news agency said that the 44-year-old Korean-American tour operator had entered a "special prison" – without elaborating on what the term actually implied.

According to the AP, North Korea has recently released several statements about Pae, and outside analysts have said Pyongyang is likely using him as bait to win diplomatic concessions in a standoff over its nuclear weapons program – although North Korea has denied this.

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food / travel

Pasta v. Fascists: How Italy's Staple Dish Became A Symbol Of Resistance

Pasta may not be considered controversial today, but it played an important role during Italy's fascist years, particularly in one family's celebration of community and liberation.

Photo of the Cervi family.

Photo of the Cervi family, whose seven children were shot by the Fascists on December 28, 1943, at the Reggio Emilia shooting range.

@comunisti_alla_ribalta via Instagram
Jacopo Fontaneto

ROME — Eighty years ago — on July 25, 1943 — the vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism, leading to Benito Mussolini's arrest, set off widespread celebrations. In Campegine, a small village in the Emilian province, the Cervi family celebrated in their own way: they brought 380 kilograms of pasta in milk cans to the town square and offered it to all the inhabitants of the village.

The pasta was strictly plain: macaroni dressed with butter and cheese, seen as more of a "festive dish" in that period of deprivation. As soon as the Cervi brothers learned about the arrest of Mussolini, they procured flour, borrowed butter and cheese from the dairy, and prepared kilos and kilos of pasta. They then loaded it onto a cart to distribute it to their fellow villagers. Pastasciutta (dry pasta) specifically regards dishes with noodles that are plated "dry", not in broth. That would disqualify soup, risotto, ravioli...

Even though pastasciutta is the most stereotypical type of pasta today, it had a complicated relationship with the government during Italy's fascist years.

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