Wikipedia is no longer being blocked in China! After refusing to cede to Chinese demands to censor the community made encyclopedia the Chinese government blocked access to wikipedia from within China.
Last week, Chinese-forums.com members discovered that the blocking of wikipedia has ended!
Hopefully Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft will learn that they don’t have to self-censor to get into China.
Ugandan rebels have agreed to return to peace talks to end the country’s 19 year civil war. The Lord’s Resistance Army left talks recently after they claimed the army was surrounding neutral assembly points where the rebel forces had gathered. The army claimed they had done so after the rebel groups had began to leave the assembly points after a commitment to remain at the points until an agreement had been reached.
The two forces have been involved in one of Africa’s longest wars, both accusing the other of atrocities. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has long been supported by Sudan, causing the government to cut ties with this country.
The talks got back on track after rebels returned to the neutral assembly points and military convoys retreated. Said Martin Ojul, head of the rebel group; “The peace talks are on course, and we hope that we will come out with a solution.”
After weeks of protesting following a leaked tape which contained a confession by Hungarian Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungarian protesters will have the opportunity to express themselves at the ballots. Sunday’s local elections will give the Hungarians a chance to vote for the Prime Minsiter, who was elected in April, or the opposition leader, Viktor Orban.
Protests are expected to continue into their second week, but perhaps will less ferver than before. The opposition party, Fidesz, claims that more than 50 percent of the vote will mean the current government will be ousted. Fidesz has not identified with the protestors after violent clashes last week. The protestors themselves are not aligned with any political group, and there is much dissent among the group, leading to criticism and an uncertainty about the outcome of the ballot. With protests more peaceful, the people of Hungary are looking forward to Sunday’s vote as a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
Wikipedia, that great resource for all sorts of information, is refusing to censor itself to gain an audience in China. The site was censored by China in October of last year because it has bad things to say about the country according to the Chinese leadership.
The founder of Wikipedia has “challenged other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing.”
“We’re really unclear why we would be [banned],’ Wales told The Observer. ‘We have internal rules about neutrality and deleting personal attacks and things like this. We’re far from being a haven for dissidents or a protest site. So our view is that the block is in error and should be removed, but we shall see.'”
Darfur is a region in trouble. For years there have been killings and other tragedies. Obviously this is not good news at all – in fact it’s the opposite of good news. Today’s good news about Darfur comes from people wanting to help the region through action. Show your support online by wearing a blue hat!
The Global Day for Darfurwas originally conceived by a group of NGOs who were concerned about the international communityÂ’s slow response to the crisis in Darfur. ItÂ’s truly global: the day will see peaceful demonstrations, rallies, marches, exhibitions and concerts in cities around
the world including Abuja, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong, Khartoum,
Kigali, London, Melbourne, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Toronto, Paris and
Vancouver.