San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

World Beat

Icelandic minister plans to ban online pornography in anti-violence effort 

In Iceland, Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson plans to make the Nordic European state the first democracy in the western world to implement a ban on online pornography.

According to The Guardian, adviser to the Interior Minister Halla Gunnarsdóttir said the ban is “not anti-sex but anti-violence.” Gender equality is highly valued in Iceland. The country holds the number one spot in the Global Gender Gap Report 2012.

The ban would have web filters block addresses and criminalize the use of Icelandic credit cards to access online pornography. Executive director of Iceland’s International Modern Media Institute and WikiLeaks volunteer Smari McCarthy called the bill “fascist” and the interior minister “insane.”

Socialist leader re-elected in Ecuador

In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa was re-elected last Sunday with more than 60 percent of the vote. The socialist leader was first elected in 2007 and is credited for bringing political stability to a nation that had seen seven presidents in the decade preceding him, according to CNN.
Critics accuse Correa of being a dictator in the making, implementing policies strengthening his power and lessen the influence of his political opponents and the private media, according to BBC News.

Correa is close to Venezuela and Cuba, and has sought to establish ties with Iran and China, according to BBC News. Correa also perturbed the U.S., Britain and Sweden by granting asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Former presidential candidate’s tweet spurs national joke

In Argentina, a cryptic tweet by Hermes Binner, incumbent Socialist Party president and former presidential candidate in Argentina’s latest elections, became a trending topic and a target for humor last Thursday, according to Global Voices Online.

The tweet, which has already been deleted, was a senseless typing: “Obvñzfhnhxds.” From there, Argentinian Twitter users took to their accounts to try to make sense of Binner’s tweet.

According to Global Voices Online, @MatiRiedel tweeted “It’s been said, if you say #Obvñzfhnhxds three times in front of a mirror, Binner appears and the cat he has over his head jumps to your face and suffocates you.”

Another user, @RelatoDPresente, tweeted, “It’s OK if @HermesBinner wants to conquer the ultrakirchnerist electorate, but with his #Obvñzfhnhxds he went too far.”

The trend, which went beyond Argentinian borders, was resolved when Binner acknowledged “Obvñzfhnhxds.” He tweeted “To err is human, to forgive is divine. Thank you for paying attention so closely #Obvñzfhnhxds.”

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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
World Beat