Here we go - News Censorship

[Treyfish]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

FACTBOX: Which websites are blocked in China?

Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:13am EDT(Reuters) - International media should have been told they would not have completely free access to the Internet before they arrived to report on the Beijing Olympics, IOC press chief Kevan Gosper told Reuters on Thursday.
On Wednesday, organizers confirmed that some sites would be restricted, dashing expectations of journalists attending the August 8-24 Games that China would allow them free access to the Internet.
Most of the websites that are inaccessible have long been blocked in China, which vigorously polices the Internet to restrict access to information it deems politically sensitive.
Here is a list of some of the organizations whose websites are affected.
* Amnesty International. The London-based group released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges. It also launched a special "The China Debate" website ( www.thechinadebate.org/en ) focused on the Beijing Games' human rights legacy.
* Apple Daily: The Chinese-language website of the daily Hong Kong newspaper is blocked. The populist broadsheet is known for feisty political coverage and taking a pro-democracy line. ( here )
* Falun Gong. Websites relating to the spiritual group Falun Gong that has been banned in China since 1999, such as the Epoch Times, ( en.epochtimes.com ), have long been inaccessible.
* Human Rights Watch. Often blocked in China. The international rights group has a Beijing 2008 section on its website (http://china.hrw.org/) that profiles human rights issues and jailed human rights activists it calls "Olympics prisoners".
* Liberty Times: Long-blocked. The Chinese-language newspaper published in Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as a province, supports the Democratic Progressive Party, which wants formal independence from China. ( www.libertytimes.com.tw )
* Radio Free Asia. The website of the U.S. radio station is blocked, and its radio signal, which broadcasts in Mandarin, has been consistently jammed in China for more than a decade. ( www.rfa.org/english and www.rfa.org/mandarin )
* Tibet. Websites criticizing China's policies in the remote region are often blocked, such as that of the London-based Free Tibet campaign (http://www.freetibet.org). The subject has been sensitive since riots flared in March and sparked international criticism of Beijing.
* Voice of America: The Chinese-language website ( www.voanews.com/chinese ) of the U.S.-run radio station's website is often blocked, and its broadcasts are frequently jammed.:tiphat: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSPEK17941220080731?sp=true

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Media rights groups have called for a quick investigation in the murder of a Thai reporter on Friday who was gunned down in his home in southern Thailand. His death is believed to be linked to his reporting about corrupt local politicians.

Reporters Without Borders released a statement on Tuesday calling for a quick investigation into the murder of Athiwat Chainurat, a reporter for the Thai language Matichon newspaper and TV station Channel 7 in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

"We call on the competent authorities to act quickly with the aim of shedding full light on this murder and bringing those responsible to justice,” said the statement. “It is vital that the investigation should concentrate on those who masterminded this clearly premeditated killing."

The editors of Matichon said they believed Athiwat's murder was linked to his stories about local politicians.

His wife, Pornpimol Chainurat, said Athiwat had been having problems for some time with local politicians because of what he had been writing, and he felt his life was being threatened. She said he went out as little as possible and had even asked her to vary her routes home when she went out.

On Friday, his wife and children found his body lying in a pool of blood when they returned home. He had been shot four times.

The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) condemned the killing as “a reckless and barbaric act,” in a statement released on Monday.

Previously, Athiwat had written stories about alleged corruption in the local government administration. He had reported on a police manhunt for a hit man who had been in the district prior to a local election. His report about the assassin reportedly angered a senior civil servant who allegedly had provided protection for the hit man. Athiwat had received death threats previously, and he exercised caution whenever he traveled.

The TJA said the murder was obviously aimed at silencing the media and discouraging it from reporting about local government officials.

“The fact that the killing took place inside the reporter’s house indicates that it was not only premeditated but also masterminded by influential figures,” the statement said.

The TJA urged National Police Commissioner Watcharawat Wongsuwan to bring those guilty to justice. The group said the police should regularly report on the investigation’s progress in order to restore public confidence.

irrawaddy.org

 

[Commonground]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Aug 6, 2008
China tries to shrug off deadly attack

Authorities said peace had been restored in China's restive Muslim region where 16 police were killed in an attack that may have been timed to overshadow Olympic celebrations. -- PHOTO: AP

KASHGAR (China) - BLOOD was washed off the road. Debris was cleared away. And authorities said peace had been restored in China's restive Muslim region where 16 police were killed in an attack that may have been timed to overshadow Olympic celebrations.

But there were plenty of other signs on Tuesday suggesting all was not well in Kashgar, this ancient Silk Road city near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan at the opposite end of China from Beijing.

Townspeople were reluctant to talk about Monday's brazen assault.

Police stepped up security checks and put schools, hospitals and government offices on heightened alert, state-run media and locals said. Slogans on billboards, walls and buildings urged people to create a more secure and harmonious society.

The precautions underscored the Chinese government's sensitivity to anything that could sour its plans for the Beijing Games to be a pivotal moment of national glory and global acceptance, despite continuing criticism of its record on human rights.

Kashgar is 3,500km west of Beijing, in the far western region of Xinjiang - a vast, rugged territory home to a Muslim minority called the Uighurs (WEE'-gurs). They have a long history of pushing for independence, and Chinese authorities have blamed a series of sporadic bombings, shootings and riots in recent years on Uighur extremist groups.

One such group, believed to be based in the remote tribal regions of Pakistan, released a video tape last month threatening to target the Olympics.

But many Uighur activists accuse Chinese officials of exaggerating the terrorism threat to justify a crackdown on the ethnic minority. They claim the clampdown has greatly intensified during the run-up to the Olympics, which start on Friday.

Monday's attack was one of the most audacious in years.

Two men - a taxi driver and a vegetable seller - drove a truck into a group of 70 border police during their routine morning jog in a northwestern neighborhood, where several popular tourist hotels are located, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Foreign reporters have rushed to Kashgar to report on the attack, adding an unusual level of scrutiny in a normally isolated region even as attention on China intensifies because of the Olympics.

Police beat two Japanese reporters who were among those sent to cover the story, while detaining them about two hours at a police station late on Monday. Chinese officials apologised on Tuesday, but Japan's government said it would lodge a formal protest.

The jitters filtered down to locals. One Chinese merchant who owns a small liquor store near the attack site dodged questions from a large group of foreign reporters.

'I'm just a small citizen of this country. I'm just a businessman. I don't remember hearing or seeing anything. I just run my business. Leave me alone,' said the man, who declined to provide his name. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_265035.html

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

For the Egypt situation, someone may found useful this blog, created by a former daily news journalist, proseucted for his commitment to poorest rights, jailed and tortured by regime. He is Hossam el-Hamalawy and his blog could be reached at http://arabist.net/arabawy/

Latest post:

* Protestors condemn trial of Mahalla workers outside London embassy

* Updates on Amanco strike

* Rights watchdog slams govt censorship, internet users? privacy violation

* Mahalla 49 trial adjourned

-
------

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

I am trying to get the details of this article. It is from an "alternative" newspaper:

"News paper of Al-Tagamo Al-Takadomy Al-Wahdawy Party of Egypt. A voice of the political opposition. Covering the other side of the story"

http://www.aboutus.org/Al-AHalY.com


Meat anonymous twenty pounds per kilo
Al-Ahali - August 20 (August) 2008
Foot and Mouth disease spreading worms, and Rift Valley fever and fever three days and camel pox and horse flu and other epidemics affecting livestock because of high temperatures and the season rice cultivation and the spread and multiplication fly Albaawwad and failure to provide veterinary care for the abolition of special campaigns were carried out regular vaccination against these diseases. Faces of peasants Breeders daily many cases of deaths of young cows, buffaloes and sheep and other cases of wasting and weakness and a rise in temperatures of large livestock and the spread of Blackheads in various parts of such magnitude...

-----------

لحوم مجهولة المصدر بعشرين جنيهاً للكيلو
جريدة الاهالي - 20 آب (أغسطس) 2008
انتشرت أمراض الحمي القلاعية بأنواعها وحمي الوادي المتصدع وحمي الثلاثة أيام وجدري الجمال وأنفلونزا الخيول وغيرها من الأوبئة التي تصيب الماشية بسبب ارتفاع درجات الحرارة وموسم زراعة الأرز وانتشار وتكاثر ذبابة الباعوض وعدم تقديم الرعاية البيطرية اللازمة خاصة إلغاء الحملات الدورية التي كانت تتم للتطعيم ضد هذه الأمراض. يواجه الفلاحون من مربي الماشية يومياً حالات كثيرة لنفوق صغار الأبقار والجاموس والخراف وغيرها وحالات هزال وضعف وارتفاع في درجات حرارة الماشية الكبيرة وانتشار البثور في مناطق متفرقة من أجسامها


when I click on the link to the newspaper I get this message:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later. <hr> <address>Apache/1.3.41 Server at al-ahaly.com Port 80</address>

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

It says temporary, try again soon

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Sometimes "temporary" lasts for days. This newspaper from an "alternative" group is off and on http://www.alwafd.org/v4/News/

This is the newspaper of the editor who was convicted of publishing information about Mubarak's health that supposedly affected the Egyptian stock market.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

This link does not work. I think it is to a Saudi Arabia newspaper. I found it through a google search this morning:

"Public opinion
Bird exposes sponsor
Public opinion - since 11 hour / hours
The owners of birds usually called the place where the falcon laid in the summer period (Cleat), a place rules and governed by strict laws. At the outset, said Mohsen al-Mutairi Mahmas that this period be left to rest Hawks after the end of the period (Almguenas) and hunting, where the rooms and places equipped suit until the nature of the process of switching defeathering, and be ready to fish again with the beginning of winter. He added: We are experiencing a clear disregard of the media and the absence of the role of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Although we volunteered for the bird flu crisis and we have to hand over the hawks to the body through ..."


This is what the link says:

The resource cannot be found.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif] Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested URL: /Templates/frNewsPaperArticleDetail.aspx[/FONT]

 

[Commonground]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Malaysia blocks anti-government news Web site

AP - 1 hour 47 minutes ago
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia has blocked access to a popular news Web site that often runs afoul of authorities for its sensational political reporting, sparking complaints Thursday that the government has reneged on its pledge to keep cyberspace uncensored.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the government's industry regulator, ordered local Internet service providers on Wednesday to cut off access to the Malaysia Today site, said a commission official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The site was deemed to have broken the law, the official said, adding that the commission would issue a formal statement with details later.

The site _ which remains accessible through an alternative link _ is run by one of Malaysia's feistiest online commentators, Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who has published numerous claims about alleged wrongdoing by government leaders.

Raja Petra was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman, and his trial begins in October. Government officials have repeatedly accused him of spreading malicious falsehoods.

"Blocking my site is a move by a desperate government that is trying to silence me, but it's not going to stop me," Raja Petra told The Associated Press. "It only reveals that the government does not know how to handle the Internet."

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar defended the move, saying, "Everyone is subject to the law, even Web sites and blogs."

But the crackdown on Malaysia Today drew criticism from bloggers and journalists who accused authorities of seeking to deter dissent.

Wong Chun Wai, group chief editor of The Star, Malaysia's leading English daily, said the order to block Raja Petra's site was "myopic and ridiculous" and clashed with the government's promise not to censor the Internet.

"If it can happen to (Raja Petra), it can also happen to other bloggers," Wong wrote on his blog. "In a democracy, we don't have to agree with each other but we must defend the right of everyone to speak up _ including (Raja Petra) and other voices of dissent."

Some of Malaysia's most popular Web sites and blogs offer fiercely anti-government commentaries, presenting themselves as an alternative to mainstream media, which are controlled by ruling political parties or closely linked to them.

Syed Hamid said the government does not "intend to curtail people's freedom or right to express themselves."

"But when they publish things that are libelous, slanderous or defamatory, it is natural for (authorities) to act," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper on its Web site.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080828/tap-as-malaysia-web-site-blocked-2nd-ld-b3c65ae.html

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Read all about it! [The Jakarta Post, 8/29/2008]

"What more freedom could you possibly want?" This was not a father's rebuke to a teenage child, but a remark from Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who was making good use of an invitation to address a press gathering on Tuesday.

In all his travels, he said he found the Indonesian press among the world's freest.

"Of course I enjoy it too," he said, "and then there are times when I really do not enjoy it."

The Alliance of Independent Journalists, celebrating its 14th anniversary, indeed got the opportunity to tell it straight to No. 2's face about obstacles to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of opinion.

Kalla the candid then volleyed scathing criticism of why the press mostly reports gloom and how it "always demands rights without wanting the responsibility".

Media workers here cannot deny the milestones achieved although in the past years we have gone up and down the international ratings on press freedom.

The government of BJ Habibie ended the mandatory press publishing permit which could be revoked anytime rulers wished.

With the latest amendment of the Constitution, Indonesia stepped miles ahead of some of its neighbors, making the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of opinion and freedom of association.

It is on this solid foundation -- the state's provision of free space to carry out the press's responsibilities -- that Indonesia's media is able to work today.

These responsibilities obviously cover the dire need to constantly improve professionalism under tight competition.

But how worthy is a press, however professional it sees itself, without its audience, its readers?

A recent report on Afghanistan profiles a rising media businesswoman who has pioneered radio in the post-Taliban era.

Following a report on a warlord, Nadjiba Ayubi told Kompas daily that he came with his armed men to the radio station, demanding to know why such a report mentioning his name was broadcast.

We would claim to be a much more advanced society compared to one struggling daily towards recovery.

But we also have our share of mobs who might be glad to lob a grenade at the television or newspaper office that portrayed their leader in a less favorable light.

In a far from violent way, officials chided the media for contributing to travel warnings of foreign governments that were issued in the wake of reports of bird flu, instances of terrorism and all the disasters that have seemed to hover around us since the tsunami.

But there was also visibly better media literacy among officials, at least an awareness both of the people's right to know and the media's responsibility to cater to this right.

Rather than attempting to suppress bird flu reports, the government progressed to work with the media the best it could to educate people on how to avoid the virus.

What about the public?
Media literacy is a forgotten expedition in efforts to secure freedom of expression.

The fact that press freedom and access to information are as important as elections in a democracy goes unnoticed by the throngs who prefer the gossip and blab of celebrity lifestyles.
Free speech, said Thomas Mann, "is civilization itself".

If the media is to continue to be relevant as a source and medium of entertainment, information, revelation and discourse (in whatever order), its workers can only rely largely on their own self-improvement to elicit a wider understanding and appreciation of how the media works.

We can forever blame our education system, for instance, for failing to instill critical thinking.

But herein lies the greater challenge of Indonesia's media workers, of striving to avoid parroting and perpetuating the soundbites of the environment where we came from.

The press, at least the professional mainstream media, will continue to improve in the hope that its audience will learn to discern the value of the information provided.

There is no memorial for fallen journalists.

No heroes day for impugned writers whose quill and imagination have been interned.

They sought not the fame of celebrity nor the riches of tycoons.
They ask for your readership, viewership and kind attention to express the speech which mirrors the human soul.
-
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20080829.E01&irec=0
------

 

[JJackson]

Senegalese newspaper chief jailed

Senegalese newspaper chief jailed

<TABLE class=storycontent cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Senegalese newspaper chief jailed


</TD></TR><TR><TD class=storybody><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=226 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

Relations between Abdoulaye Wade's government and the media are tense

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA --><!-- S SF -->
A newspaper publisher has been jailed for three years in Senegal for printing an article deemed offensive to President Abdoulaye Wade.
El Malick Seck's newspaper, the 24 Heures Chrono, was also banned from publication for three months.
Mr Seck was arrested in August after he wrote an article alleging Mr Wade and his son were involved in laundering money stolen from an Ivory Coast bank.
Senegalese authorities have said that the article was untrue. <!-- E SF -->
Offices ransacked
The court in the capital, Dakar, found Mr Seck guilty of offending the head of state, publishing false news, and acts that could lead to public disturbances.
But Sambou Biagui, editor of 24 Heures Chrono, told Reuters news agency that Mr Seck had been sentenced "simply because our paper put in the open the wrongdoings of those who are running this country".
The case has come at a time of increasingly tense relations between the government and the media.
Last month, the offices of 24 Heures Chrono and another paper, L'As, were ransacked.
Some newspapers accused Farba Senghor, propoganda chief for the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), of complicity in the raids.
He hit back, accusing four papers of a "relentless, orchestrated" campaign against him. In late August he was sacked from his post as transport minister - though the government insisted this was to allow him to defend himself against the accusations, rather than an admission of his guilt. On Thursday, 12 people were sentenced to prison terms of five to six years over the raids, including two of Mr Senghor's bodyguards. <!-- E BO -->

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7613382.stm

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

U.N. agency eyes curbs on Internet anonymity | Politics and Law - CNET News
URL: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html?tag=nl.e703

A United Nations telecommunications agency is drafting a proposal called 'IP traceback' and has scheduled a meeting next week. Its potential impact on anonymity is raising alarms. Read this blog post by Declan McCullagh on News - Politics and Law.


CNET: The source for computers and technology http://www.cnet.com

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Source: http://www.chinastakes.com/story.aspx?id=665

Beijing Finally Allows Domestic Coverage of Milk Powder Scandal

September 18,2008
by CSC staff


It was the day after the end of the Beijing Paralympic Games, and Chinese newspaper front pages were not full of exhalations over the excellence of the closing ceremonies. Instead, headlines blazed away at the milk powder scandal that is gripping government, the industry and the entire population. For the first time since the crisis began, the Chinese media reported the issue in an all-round way.

To update the story: At a meeting of supervisory departments on the very day the Paralympics closed, the central government decided to ?rectify? the entire dairy industry and test all dairy products. Premier Wen Jiabao presided over the meeting himself. Departments were severely criticized at the meeting and told ?the milk powder issue presents serious problems such as disorder in the dairy products market, flaws in supervisory mechanisms and lack of effective supervision.?

The Chinese government is cancelling the ?inspection-free? status of some food companies? products, and says it will send out 5000 supervisors to supervise milk powder companies? production processes.

After the meeting, the Ministry of Health and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine held a joint press release, revealing that over 6000 babies had now been reported ill due of consumption of tainted milk powder.

Earlier, Chinese media had been ordered to take a low key attitude when reporting this issue. Sina, China?s biggest news website, did not intensively report the story. However, on the day of the closing ceremony, Chinese reporters started to work this story in detail, and many newspapers allocated a whole page for reports. Beijing?s Media Management Department even encouraged reporters to dig into the story, especially about how the government was taking effective measures to deal with the crisis.

To preserve what it sees as the country?s image, and in the worry that media reports will trigger public criticism, the Chinese government often sets strict limits on the reporting of ?sensitive? issues. Before 2003, this system was reasonably successful, and only a few papers in the south of China dare to break the rule. Since the SARS outbreak in 2003, however, the government has come to realize that open and transparent news reporting can help it learn about what is happening in different areas, enabling it to judge situations more rapidly. Since then, the government has carefully loosened limits on reporting. The new administration is even requiring CCTV, China?s state-owned media, to show political leaders speaking with their own voices instead of being quoted by broadcasters.

A real breakthrough came during the Wenchuan earthquake response this spring. Within hours after the initial quake, most domestic news organs had sent reporters to Sichuan. The government?s media management at first tried to stop them, but media heads insisted. Finally the government realized that during a big crisis, open reporting helped to stimulate national spirit and promote disaster relief. The Chinese government began to encourage reporting about the earthquake, and tried to guide reporters by offering reams of official information.

During the Olympic Games, however, the government went back to its old ways, especially over reports about food safety, leading many to accuse supervisory departments of concealing the milk powder crisis in order to maintain that positive image during the run of the Games. But with Paralympics concluding, the public?s anger, and international media pressure finally broke through the strict control.

Beijing is learning that allowing the media to operate freely has its advantages as well as its drawbacks. In the end the advantages will outweigh. But trying to regain control over the media once they have been given their head is trying to stuff the genie back into the bottle. He won?t want to go. And hiding behind media controls once the populace has been exposed to a free information flow is likely to elicit a reaction far more damaging than letting a story run and dealing with the consequences.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080923110010.vffuekkj&show_article=1

Malaysian blogger to be detained for two years: wife
Sep 23 07:00 AM US/Eastern

Malaysia's most prominent blogger has been ordered to spend two years in detention under internal security laws after being accused of insulting Islam, his wife said Tuesday.

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a government critic and founder of the Malaysia Today website, has been sent to the Kamunting detention centre in northern Perak state on the order of the home minister, his wife Marina Lee Abdullah told AFP.

His arrest earlier this month was part of a crackdown amid a political crisis in Malaysia, as Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi faces calls to quit from within his cabinet and a mounting challenge by the opposition.

"(Police) said my husband has been sent to Kamunting this morning and that he will remain there for two years with no trial. This is the worst news I can receive but we will keep fighting for his release," Marina said.

Raja Petra's lawyer Amarjit Sidhu said the government had pulled a "mean, dirty trick" by issuing the detention order the night before a scheduled court hearing on Tuesday to secure his release.

"The government can now hide behind a veil of secrecy because they do not have to disclose reasons for detaining him," he told AFP.

Raja Petra was detained under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly "insulting Islam and publishing articles on his website, which has tarnished the country's leadership to the point of causing confusion among the people," his wife said.

He was also accused of inciting hate in his articles on Islam -- a serious offence in predominantly Muslim Malaysia.

Raja Petra is best known for his articles on politics, and has already been charged with sedition and defamation for linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu, president of the Malaysian Indian Congress party, the third largest in the ruling National Front coalition, urged the government to free five activists held under the ISA since last December.

Samy met the prime minister Tuesday to discuss the releases amid mounting pressure for their freedom from within the Indian leader's party.

"We have full faith and trust in the prime minister and we believe that he will do something (positive) on this matter," he said.

The five, including a newly sworn-in state lawmaker, were held under the ISA after enraging the government in November by mounting a mass rally alleging discrimination against minority ethnic Indians.

Ethnic Indians make up less than eight percent of the 27 million people in the mainly Muslim-Malay country.

The ISA allows for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial and has been used to lock up government opponents in the past, although in recent times it has mostly been directed against suspected terrorists.

Raja Petra was rounded up earlier this month along with an opposition lawmaker and a journalist but the other two were quickly released.

Their arrests triggered the resignation of Zaid Ibrahim, a cabinet minister in charge of legal affairs, as well as calls from within the ruling coalition for the security law to be abolished.

 

[Michael Coston]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Now this is impressive reporting. Hard to scoop Xinhua!





China space mission article hits Web before launch

Thu Sep 25, 9:20 AM ET

BEIJING - A news story describing a successful launch of China's long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.


The country's official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site Thursday, and remained there for much of the day before it was taken down.

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone Thursday said the posting of the article was a "technical error" by a technician. The staffer refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, which will feature China's first-ever spacewalk, is set to launch Thursday from Jiuquan in northwestern China between 9:07 a.m. EDT and 10:27 p.m. EDT.

The arcticle, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

Excerpts are below:

"After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

'One minute to go!'

'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

"Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space_article_1

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

We CAN NOT BELIEVE ONE THING that comes from the Chinese government.

Unreal.

The Chinese people are at huge risk in any public health disaster.

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LP78188.htm

The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged national food safety authorities on Thursday to test Chinese dairy products for health risks before slapping on import bans or recalls.

"We see mass recalls but would suggest it would be better for national food safety authorities to do the testing first," WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi told Reuters in Geneva.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been extremely shocked by this article. I almost voiced it on the thread but didn't dare. There are 22 dairies involved, millions of sweets and many other products that can destroy the health of children, adults and, yes also animals. By issuing this article, WHO is putting thousands of beings at risk of being more sick or dying. What for? Protecting China's dairy trade which is collapsing? China can always try to complain to WTO for its dairy trade problems. So is it protecting least-developed countries who might experience a shortage of milk or sweets? A milk that is so tainted that not only does it cause kidney stones, but also deprives the babies that drink it from proteins since it contains no proteins anymore - denatured milk! And then WHO complains that babies die of bad nutrition!

I'd rather have a national dairy industry collapse than babies and other beings hurt by such practices.

This is so sickening it made me want to cry. It is the first time I can wholly, utterly and completely condemn WHO. Where's the crying emoticon?????

/end rant/

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

China space mission article hits Web before launch

Time travel - I'm impressed.

Now if only they could go back in time and fix the melamine problem

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

Well, they don't have any bird flu there ...melamine must be the cure for it!:smartass:

 

[tropical]

Re: Here we go - News Censorship

FrenchieGirl #57:
"... Where's the crying emoticon?????"

Busines flushed it down, probably ...

When the WHO officials compared the omnipresent quantities of hundreds of thousends various aditives in the whole world which wasn't probably measured in every released food package (there are various stat. methods for bulk testing, without testing every item), they probably tend to relativize this milk episode:
""We see mass recalls but would suggest it would be better for national food safety authorities to do the testing first," WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi told Reuters in Geneva."

We are already filled up with various ?known aditives/chem. independently of this episode ...