Israeli navy halts Gaza-bound boat

JEWISH ACTIVISTS AGAINST GAZA BLOCKADE

On Tuesday, the “Irene” a boat carrying Jewish activists’ hoping to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip, was intercepted by Israeli naval forces and redirected to the port of Ashdod. Web users were able to follow this journey live on the web.

The organizers of this expedition sent regular messages to social networks to keep the blogosphere updated on the smooth running of the voyage. This update indicates that ten or so warships encircled the boat as it approached the Gaza Strip.

The interception of the boat did take place nonetheless without violence. The crew on board the Irene had said on their web site that it was a non-violent action and they would not resist if the Israeli army tried to stop them.

But despite this setback, other expeditions are already in preparation. Canadian campaigners are currently raising money via the Internet to charter a boat in the coming weeks to try once more to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

This blockade is condemned in this game, recently made available online by Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization. The player can take on the role of 3 characters : an ice cream seller in Gaza who wants to relocate to the West bank, a female Gazan student enrolled at Ramallah University and a man who wants to get back to his wife and son in the West bank. This is an educational game; where you cannot win as these characters were inspired by real people and they cannot overcome this blockade.

NORTH KOREA PREPARES FOR SUCCESSION

The Worker’s Party congress began on Tuesday in North Korea. The objective of this rare meeting is to choose the “supreme leadership” body of this single party state. The event has sparked lively speculation on the blogosphere concerning the approaching succession to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il.

This video blogger says this congress is a clear indication that time is of the essence for North Korea’s ruling party and the “Dear leader’s” succession has already begun. He thinks there are no doubts as to who will replace Kim Jong-Il; he says it will be his third son, Kim Jong-Un who is in apparent preparation to take over as Party leader. He will follow an apprenticeship beforehand, the length of which will depend on his father’s health.

This American researcher and expert on North Korea does not fully believe this version of events. He thinks that if Kim Jong-il was to die suddenly without being able to guarantee his son as successor, then a bitter war for leadership could break out between the army and party officials.

Meanwhile, this blogger mentions that China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao shared some information with former US president Jimmy Carter and told him that Kim Jong-il told him personally that his son’s hereditary succession was a false rumour started in the West.

MONET2010.COM

This new web site monet2010.com pays a glowing tribute to the painter Claude Monet at the same time as an exhibition of his works is being held in Paris. The site remains true to the spirit of the impressionists and offers visitors multiple resources to find out more about the artist’s world. There is a web TV showing videos about the painter and via the travel section, there is an interactive application allowing you to explore part of a Monet piece.

ALBUM TACOS

Here’s a site that should bring a smile to the faces of music fans. Album Tacos catalogues dozens of altered album covers that have been given a new addition: tacos, the traditional Mexican dish. This is an astonishing blog and does not need to be consumed in moderation.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The creator of this video had an original idea: send a parcel containing a video recorder and microphone from London in England to Helsinki in Finland, the aim being to record all the sounds that accompany your mail. Machine noises, human voices, and radio tunes, there’s all sorts of sounds that are illustrated by animations in this video called Dictaphone Parcel.