 Leading US technology companies will hit back at allegations they are complicit in censoring internet users at a Congressional hearing on the ethics of doing business in China. US lawmakers last month accused Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Google of giving into pressure from Beijing and censoring websites in violation of American principles of free speech. China's rapidly expanding online market has become a powerful magnet for foreign investment and for a steady stream of IT professionals from around the world. The country's internet population some 111 million, 64 million of whom have broadband is second in size only to the US. Yet the Chinese government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents. The row over censorship is proving embarrassing and potentially damaging for companies, who are facing increasing pressure not to conform to Beijing's conditions...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 10:18:00 02-15-06
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 Death for Jordanian bomb plotters |
A Jordanian military court has sentenced nine men including Iraq's al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to death for plotting a chemical attack. Zarqawi and three of the other defendants were condemned in absentia. He already faces two death sentences in Jordan for other convictions. Alleged mastermind Azmi al-Jayousi was in court. His lawyers said he was tortured to extract a confession. The foiled April 2004 attack could have killed thousands, Jordan officials say. Suicide bombers were to drive trucks loaded with explosives and toxic chemicals into the country's intelligence headquarters. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4715848.stm
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Editor - 10:13:00 02-15-06
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| Chertoff Tells Senators Katrina 'Traumatic' Investigation Comes as GOP Report Blasts Homeland Security Secretary |
Calling Hurricane Katrina's magnitude "unprecedented," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff began testimony before a Senate committee today by taking responsibility for the department's response. "I am accountable, and I accept responsibility for the performance of the entire department — the bad and the good," Chertoff said. "One of the most difficult and traumatic experiences of my life, which was the process of anticipating and managing and dealing with the consequences of Katrina," he added. Chertoff said he was assured by former FEMA Director Michael Brown that the agency was working with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Defense to prepare for the storm. But, he noted: "There are many lapses that occurred." ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1621854&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 10:11:00 02-15-06
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| Europe scrambles to stop bird flu spread |
Bird flu reached further into Europe on Wednesday, prompting governments across the continent to step up efforts to prevent a potentially devastating outbreak of the H5N1 virus in domestic fowl. Germany became the fourth European Union country to detect H5N1, saying additional tests on two dead swans had confirmed its presence, first shown by preliminary results on Tuesday. Authorities later said they had also found the virus in a hawk. "Unfortunately it has been confirmed that the swans were infected with H5N1 from Asia," Reinhard Kurth, head of the Robert Koch Institute, told German television. "We have no doubts whatsoever any more." Other European countries were testing samples from wild birds, including Poland and Hungary. Results showing H5N1 in either would mark their first cases of the virus which can kill humans in its highly pathogenic form. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1622339
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Editor - 10:06:00 02-15-06
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| Parents who caged kids indicted Charges include child endangerment, lying for adoptions |
The parents accused of forcing some of their 11 adopted children to sleep in cages were indicted Tuesday, accused of child endangerment and other offenses.The indictment, handed down Tuesday in Norwalk, Ohio, also accuses Michael and Sharen Gravelle of falsifying adoption applications and lying under oath when being qualified for adoption funding.The Gravelles said the criminal charges filled against them are a government vendetta.They have denied mistreating the children, ages 1 to 15. The youngsters were placed in foster care last fall after a county social worker likened the wood and chicken-wire cages to kennels....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/15/caged.kids.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us
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Editor - 10:04:00 02-15-06
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| Cheney in spotlight for shooting |
US Vice-President Dick Cheney is to make his first public comments since accidentally shooting his hunting companion on Saturday. Mr Cheney, under growing pressure from politicians and the media to make a statement, will appear on Fox TV. Harry Whittington, 78, was left with pellets in his body after the shooting on a ranch in Texas, leading to a minor heart attack, doctors said. He was moved back into intensive care on Tuesday. The BBC's Justin Webb says the strange affair has become a potential political liability for the White House. Mr Cheney - who visited Mr Whittington in the hospital on Sunday - is scheduled to appear on Fox television on Wednesday. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4715232.stm
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Editor - 10:01:00 02-15-06
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