By all accounts, people keep telling Ed Vaizey his idea is insane and won't work. But the British communications minister is determined to try and force internet subscribers to proactively request online porn; otherwise it would be blocked by default.

Britain's Daily Mail begins holiday heartbreak story with the quote, "We'll sell our toys to pay for daddy's funeral," and the Dickensian drama just builds from there: Mounting debts; the looming prospect of home eviction; and little details like these:

Another day, another Italian prostitute telling stories about Silvio Berlusconi's sex life. The latest lass claims she earned €10,000 ($13,000) for two nights of "bunga-bunga" bliss, then explains exactly how she got into the Berlusconi orgy business.

German reactionaries have a bizarre new icon: Google. Vandals in the Bergerhausen area of western Germany have egged several houses for opting out of Google Street View, leaving behind notes reading, "Google's cool." Get the message, privacy-hoarding squares?

Libya is not pleased with Violet Blue's bare arms. The North African autocracy shut down the American writer's website partly because it featured an "offensive" picture of her drinking beer in a sleeveless shirt.

Constantly masturbating hobbit-witch Christine O'Donnell, Delaware Senate candidate, knows all too much about China, and she doesn't trust them one lick. During a primary debate for her 2006 Senate run, for example, she warned: "They've got something up their sleeve."

Apple's flagship store in Beijing was shut down for a few hours due to fights breaking out over buying the iPhone 4, M.I.C. Gadget, a gadget blog based in China, reports.

Because he doesn't have enough to do, President Obama is hosting direct talks between Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, starting at dinner Wednesday. The main course... was hope. And, some kind of actual food, one imagines.

Wikileaks leader Julian Assange implied that the rape and molestation charges against him in Sweden were part of a global conspiracy. But a fringe-left accuser identified in the Swedish media hardly seems like a CIA plant.

North Korea was recently discovered to have both a whore-obsessed Twitter account and a Facebook page soliciting hot man on man communal love. Or maybe not: The regime says its sexy profiles are, uh, tricks of the capitalist running dogs.

Exciting news, comrades: Our Facebook friendship with North Korea is "awaiting confirmation." The North Korean government has apparently set up an official Facebook page. But they only have 65 friends. And North Korea is gay?

In an unprecedented step, Google is letting privacy-sensitive Germans delete pictures of their homes from Google Street View. This is a limited time offer, however. Act now for maximum privacy. But only in Germany. Why?

A newspaper owned by the North Korean government opened the regime's first Twitter account. Our favorite so far is the post calling South Korea a "poor whore," "dirty whore," and "prostitute." Twitter's "Content Boundaries" don't apply to Dear Leader! [Mashable]

So that alleged Russian spy who worked as a Microsoft software tester for nine months had a Facebook profile, which you can see after the jump. How did people not catch on to this guy? The clues were all there.

Remember how Facebook unilaterally appropriated private friend lists and profile photos several months ago? A new class-action suit says that action violated Canadian privacy and consumer protection laws, and demands a cut of Facebook's ill-gotten revenues. Nice, ay?

Steve Jobs gave a new iPhone to the Russian president the day before patriotic American fanboys battled lines, shortages and debilitating heat to splurge on the smartphone. Just what sort of "revolution" is the Apple CEO really planning, mmm?

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev visited the San Francisco offices of Twitter and created an account on the microblogging service, @KremlinRussia. As you can see in the attached photo, the startup's founders didn't get too dressed up.

Google is "creepy" and cavalier about privacy. We've said that ourselves plenty of times, but now it's the Australian communications minister saying so, citing Google's recent spying on wifi traffic. Sadly, this same minister wants a national internet filter. Creepier.

I cannot wait for April 26, when Shanghai's Obama Entertainment Club opens. This is surely why Obama constantly bows to Chinese people. Visit the official website (© 2010 Obarma Club) for some awesome embedded music that you cannot turn off.

Apple delayed the international release of the iPad by one month, to the end of May, citing overwhelming domestic demand. Not that the world is necessarily hungry for the tablet-shaped embodiment of American consumerism: Israel just seized 10 iPads.