04/13/09 | Breaking Tweets

April 13, 2009

North Korea rejects U.N. statement, six-party talks

Per Market Watch, North Korea condemned the latest statement from the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday and stated it will break off six-party talks and restart its nuclear program.

Initial reaction from Twitterers in East Asia showed that some were surprised by the developments and others were not:

XIEZIJIE (Ningbo, China) RT @BreakingNews: BULLETIN -- NORTH KOREA SAYS IT WILL BOYCOTT SIX-PARTY TALKS.！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ 14 Apr 2009 from twhirl

klustout (Hong Kong) NKorea foreign ministry after condeming UN statement: "We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent..." #nkorea 14 Apr 2009 from web

DavidFeng (Beijing, China) Thinking of leaving Twitter again now that North Korea's thinking of giving up the ghost re: the six-party talks. 14 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

tonyhen (Hong Kong) north korea restarts nuclear weapons programme - w3hat do you expect you (Japan-US) Twits 14 Apr 2009 from Tweetr

alansoon (Singapore) North Korea quits 6-party talks to protest UN statement 14 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

Related Breaking Tweets story:
U.N. to condemn North Korea launch, April 11, 2009

Featured TwitPic: Fireworks finale at Disney World

"Fireworks finale" (Posted by @nthngprsnl of Virginia at Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Orlando, Fla., April 13, 2009)

China releases human rights action plan

Per New York Times, China issued its first action plan on human rights promising to improve the protection of liberties that are often neglected and violated.

The document calls for measures to discourage torture, protect rights to a fair trial and uphold rights already guaranteed in the Chinese constitution but are ignored or suppressed by authorities, according to the article.

Per Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government admitted that it still "has a long road ahead in its efforts to improve its human rights situation."

Twitter users reacted to the news with skepticism:

cpb (Global) Hilarious! China creates a (LOL) "human rights action plan"! http://is.gd/sd68 13 Apr 2009 from web

sanjeevn (Boston, Mass.) China Releases Human Rights Plan http://bit.ly/BGqRF Aah.. why do I react to that headline with cynicism. A planning commission in charge? 13 Apr 2009 from web

Trish1981 (South Bend, Ind.) China releases a human rights action plan My guess is it was distributed as a pamphlet consisting mostly of pictures of happy Chinese people 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

Mofobro (Tanglin, Singapore) @weirdchina I don't know what you're smoking, but I want some of it! China will do [expletive] for human rights, minorities, polution, NOTHING! 13 Apr 2009 from TwitterFon in reply to weirdchina

Other Twitterers were more optimistic:

weirdchina (China) in China, as a foreigner living among the Chinese, I have learned that baby steps = progress 13 Apr 2009 from web

leadglobally (Park City, Utah) China delivers first human rights plan - "the times they are a changing". 13 Apr 2009 from web

U.S. lifts Cuba travel restrictions

Per The Washington Post, U.S. President Barack Obama is reversing several policies involving the United States' relationship with Cuba, following up on campaign promises to Cuban-Americans in Florida that changes would come.

Obama has lifted travel restrictions, eased trade embargoes, and will encourage companies to build satellite and communications infrastructure between the two nations, per the Post.

Floridian Twitterers were quick to respond to the policy changes:

michi421 (Miami, Fla.) Well, it's about time! RT @miamiherald Some travel restrictions to Cuba will be lifted. http://tr.im/iIPO 13 Apr 2009 from web

BettinaInclan (Miami, Fla.) and it starts... On Monday, the Obama will lift some travel and gift restrictions for Cuban Americans.... 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

cubanmike82 (Miami, Fla.) Time to plan a trip to Cuba! http://tinyurl.com/dk67my 13 Apr 2009 from web

induce1 (Miami, Fla.) Even though I'm not even cuban, this obama/Cuba thing got me feeling emotional/happy/content in my choice/excited for the future. 13 Apr 2009 from txt

jodybrewster (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) Holy [expletive], Obama eases restrictions on Cuba! Ok maybe Rudo is right 13 Apr 2009 from web

Nardo58 (Cape Coral, Fla.) @ricksanchezcnn It's time now,1962 Cuban Missle Crisis has long passed,lets start with a new era of relationship with Cuba and it's citizens 13 Apr 2009 from web in reply to ricksanchezcnn

LuieT (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) 60 plus years of failed policy and now? CHANGE! President Obama kept his words and we are seen it now! As a Cuban-American in SouFla,Yeah 13 Apr 2009 from web

Amazon's LGBT literature glitch

Per guardian.co.uk, several books dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues had their sales rankings removed from the Amazon Web site, causing much criticism online.

An Amazon spokeswoman blamed a "glitch" for the situation and said it is being fixed, per the article.

Many Twitterers are expressing their opinions of the event, as well as the fact that it is indeed a hot topic on Twitter:

gwynsmom (San Jose, Calif.) I guess people do read my posts after all. Got 5 msgs about 'Amazon censorship' today. Amazon is not CENSORING anyone, people!!! #amazonfail 13 Apr 2009 from TwitterFon

sarahmanader (Vermont) It warms my heart that Twitter has been such an effective medium for the Amazon censoring issue. #amazonfail 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

seansinclair (Washington, D.C.) #Amazonfail - WTF Amazon?? All LGBT books are "adult material" but hetero erotica is not? I call shenanigans. 13 Apr 2009 from web

surban (Madison, Wisc.) I am so miffed at Amazon. I won't shop there until they change their ridiculous prejudiced policy. 13 Apr 2009 from web

OutHistory (Undisclosed) To sign petition protesting Amazon's "adult books policy" go to: http://tinyurl.com/d5dbo3 13 Apr 2009 from web

Maike_R_W (Undisclosed) more than 13.000 have signed the petition against Amazon's new Adult policy. YAY US! #amazonfail 13 Apr 2009 from web

pts (Undisclosed) People freaking out about Amazon, read this and take a deep breath: http://tinyurl.com/d279nf 13 Apr 2009 from web

legalaid (Washington, D.C.) Amazon Anger Rises on Twitter http://tinyurl.com/cxdu59 13 Apr 2009 from web

lbutlr (Denver, Col.) if #amazonfail indicates a anti-homosexual slant at Amazon, I think they are going to be in for a huge ass reaming. poor choice of words? 13 Apr 2009 from Canary

Some affected authors have also made their views known on the subject. Jennifer Finney Boylan (@JennyBoylan) was among them.

JennyBoylan Trans content just a dangerous as gay content, apparently. Finally, we're included in something! #amazonfail 13 Apr 2009 from web

JennyBoylan I'm going to give amazon one day to prove it's a "glitch". My life is no glitch, and neither is the book about my life. #amazonfail 13 Apr 2009 from web

JennyBoylan Also: today PEN and editors at Random House immediately got on the case. Author's Guild? No response. #amazonfail. 13 Apr 2009 from web

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Mikeyy virus infests Twitter

More than 10,000 "Mikeyy" tweets have popped up in the past hour, and high-profile accounts including @breakingnews, @zaibatsu, @jeanlucr, and @murnahan were among those compromised (do not visit these pages until the situation subsides).

Some were baffled by the latest attack, the most advanced yet, which included malicious links and requests for retweets. The newest virus was presumably released by the same perpetrator who initiated the #stalkdaily worm, Mikeyy Mooney according to Breaking News Online.

Here's a collection of tweets amidst the chaos:

GisselleBella (New York/Vegas) @cdashspade yeah don't fall for anything that has to do with Mikeyy...this is his third time and now he's doing more advanced sh*t 13 Apr 2009 from web in reply to cdashspade

XRobinson (San Diego, Calif.) It's actually kind of fun to watch the Mikeyy worm on Tweet Deck. (Make sure you don't view profiles in yr browser.) One big mess, though. 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

guruvan (New York, N.Y.) ANOTHER BOGUS TWEET: "How TO remove new Mikeyy worm! RT!! " DO NOT CLICK ON SHORT LINKS IN THIS TWEET 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

elcario (Dieburg, Germany) that darn #Mikeyy got me without clicking a profile... strange. #twittergewurme 13 Apr 2009 from web

DannySwain (Atlanta, Ga.) @alice_wonder LOLz just thought I'd have a lil fun with this Mikeyy thing...figures when I finally sign up for Twit I gotta deal with this 13 Apr 2009 from web in reply to alice_wonder

holman (Palo Alto, Calif.) This Mikeyy attack is actually slightly cool. Pretty quick uptake and trending. It's fun to reverse engineer these things. 13 Apr 2009 from twitterrific

mynameiskaye (Atlanta, Ga.) @jheneaiko u have the mikeyy virus.. download tweetdeck.. adn stop using twitter.com... seriosuly.. 13 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

A Day in Seoul

Seoul is home to more than 10 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world next to Tokyo. Here's what some people are up to in the capital of South Korea this Monday morning.

samiq just got the update from my family after easter time. good to hear my mom on the phone ;-) 13 Apr 2009 from web

tarachan012 Okay. Time to get to work. Need to stop watching realtime #amazonfail XD 13 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

hur 옥외 테이블에서 케익과 함께 커피 마시기에 정말 좋은 날씨. wifi만 있었으면 완벽하였을텐데 ^^ (With cake and coffee at outdoor tables drinking really good weather. I could only complete the link that was sent would have wifi ^ ^) 13 Apr 2009 from Power Twitter

denisermiller First bday party with 4-year-olds today. Whole class brought her presents, and dressed-up bday girl gave stickers in return. Pretty adorable 13 Apr 2009 from web

tBOBXerxes sittin at home and eating some ddokboki. Gotta love an hour and a half long lunch break. 13 Apr 2009 from web

seouleats I just got finished from lunch. I went to the Bistro Corner for lunch. They have the best onion rings 13 Apr 2009 from web

JoongWook I've just got joined this site 'twitter'. I'm eager to have friends in here. 13 Apr 2009 from web