Science and Technology: Turkey's Erdogan drives up YouTube visits
29/12/2008
The Turkish prime minister admits to watching YouTube. Also in the news: Magyar Telekom won a ten-year licence to operate a 3G mobile network in Macedonia, and internet access increases in Cypriot households.
 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. [Getty Images] |
The number of visitors to YouTube in Turkey doubled after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he visited the video-sharing web site despite the ban imposed by courts for almost a year, the daily Hurriyet reported on December 19th. Erdogan said he visited YouTube and watched a ceremony of veiled women becoming members of the main opposition People's Republican Party. After Erdogan's remarks, YouTube climbed to ninth place among the most visited web sites in Turkey.
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Hungary's Magyar Telekom won a ten-year licence to operate a broadband 3G mobile network in Macedonia, the operator said in a statement on Tuesday (December 23rd). The licence, for which the company paid 10m euros, obliges it to launch the service within six months and make it accessible to 80% of households within three years.
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The Macedonian government will open free internet clubs in 15 cities across Macedonia, Information Minister Ivo Ivanovski said on December 20th. The new clubs will improve information access for the so-called e-inclusion, said Ivanovski. The government will allocate 324,000 euros to finance the initiative.
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A new web site to create and sign petitions on different subjects began operation in Cyprus on December 19th. The www.cypruspetitions.com web site's programmers seek to provide a free resource for people to combine the old system of petitions with modern technology. The web site is currently running petitions on property rights and waste management.
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The company Eagle Mobile, a subsidiary of Turkey's Calik Group, is the favourite mobile telephone operator in Albania, Anadolu news agency reported on December 19th. The company entered the Albanian market eight months ago and now has more than 130,000 customers in Albania. About 3,000 Albanians are daily users of Calik Group services.
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The number of Cypriot households with access to a computer is increasing. It reached 56.3% in 2008, compared to 53.1% in 2007, according to an annual survey by the Cypriot statistical bureau. An estimated 76.8% of households with internet access in Cyprus have a broadband connection. Pollsters conducted the survey, entitled "Information and Communication Technologies Usage in Households and by Individuals in 2008", for the fifth consecutive year in all EU member states.
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The Skopje-based Faculty of Mechanical Engineering inaugurated two new laboratories on December 19th for postgraduate studies in modelling, simulations and industrial design. The European Commission's TEMPUS programme funded the project. The laboratories boast modern working stations, modelling and simulation software, graphic interactive tools and other equipment.
(Various sources – 22/12/08-29/12/08)
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Human rights violations continue in the region, according to a recent report by Amnesty International.
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