Turkey Bans Twitter

1
Turkey Bans Twitter
2
On Thursday Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan shut down his countrys access to
Twitter, saying social media is the worse menace
to society. Shortly before midnight, users in
Turkey attempting to access the network instead
saw a notice from the governments
telecommunications authority listing three new
court rulings against the use of Twitter. The
reason behind the Erdogans court-backed
restriction is that the social media site has
grown popularity in becoming a virtual protesting
ground against the Turkish government. With
elections coming up, the Prime Minister has
seemed to have had enough. Over the last two
years protests have ripped across the website
against the governments corruption, disliked
urban development plans, and general shift away
from secularism. The Twitter ban is only the most
recent form of government crackdown on freedom of
press and expression in Turkey and has caused
more outrage rather than the intended silence.
After the countrys Twitter was apparently
disabled, the hashtag TwitterisblockedinTurkey
went viral. Some Twitter users in Turkey have
found a way around the ban by sending their
tweets in through an SMS message, but cannot have
access to the entire site.
3
In Other News

• Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist
  Church, died Thursday at the age of 84. The
  church, which he founded in 1955, is known for
  its anti-gay protests at more than 53,000 public
  events. These events range from Lady Gaga
  concerts to funerals for U.S. soldiers.
  Typically, a dozen or so church membersincluding
  small childrenwill carry signs that crudely
  attack homosexuality. Under Phelps leadership,
  Westboro members have preached that every
  calamity, from natural disasters to the Sandy
  Hook Elementary shooting is Gods punishment for
  the countrys acceptance of homosxuality. Phelps
  was often called the most hated man in America.
• In an attempt to increase sales after the morning
  rush, coffee retail giant, Starbucks, has
  announced plans to turn thousands of its cafes
  into beer and wine vendors during the evening.
  Starbucks tested this new business idea in 2010
  by offering alcohol after 400PM at a single
  Seattle Starbucks café. The endeavor proved
  successful and was introduced to 25 more
  locations over the next three years. By the end
  of 2014 this number is expected to double and be
  implemented in a large percentage of the 11,000
  Starbucks locations over the next decade.