sanction
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EU tells Google to delist Russian state media websites from search
The European Commission issued a ban on RT and Sputnik earlier this month.
Facebook deletes accounts of Chechnya leader hit with US sanctions
Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic and one of Vladimir Putin's staunchest allies, was a frequent Facebook and Instagram user up until recently. The controversial leader found himself locked out of both social networks on December 23rd, leaving him unable to post photos of himself snuggling tigers and death threats against Chechnya's and Russia's critics. A Facebook rep told The New York Times that the company was legally obligated to boot Kadyrov off its platforms after the US imposed financial and travel sanctions on him.
Women's basketball recruiter sanctioned for sharing a Netflix account
When the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) involves itself with regulating over a thousand sports teams, organizations and athletes, it's normally a big deal - especially when deal-makers are looking to offer all kinds of incentives for the best young players. Then there's Southeast Missouri State, whose former assistant coach has violated rules by talking to recruits in quiet season, in addition to offering water bottles and shirts for a local baseball camp. The final disgraceful act? (Assistant coach Ben Coomes left the school this summer after these violations happened.) He apparently gave recruits the login details to his Netflix account, which meant they could use the streaming service without paying, the monsters. As Daily Dot notes, compared to the allegations of fraud agains the University of North Carolina, accused of offering faux classes for more than 18 years, the occasional Air Bud revisit on someone else's account doesn't quite seem so bad.
Kim Jong-Il's iPod, wine orders to get denied by US
If you've ever wondered what happens when you run an entire nation into the ground, bar almost every type of contact with the outside world, launch nuclear bomb tests against the orders of outsiders, and still try to order an iPod, well, now you know. North Korea's highly dodgy Kim Jong-Il will reportedly be "doing without luxuries" such as iPods, jet skis (saywha?), jewelery, designer clothes, and fine wines as the US implements an all-out ban against selling these goods to the power-trippin' leader. The nation's elite often enjoy lavish luxuries of first-world countries while the vast majority of its people are left without bare necessities, and apparently, new sanctions are trying to put an end to it. While this case has certainly been made before, individual countries were previously allowed to "make their own decisions," however the United States has now taken a stand by barring all luxury sales to Mr. Kim and his constituents -- which will probably do nothing outside of producing a sudden swell in iPod knockoff orders to the DPRK, unfortunately.[Thanks, SRW985]
