| Google vs. Evil
We didn't want to do anything rash," Brin says. "The situation over there is more complex than I had imagined." Four days later, Chinese authorities restored access to the site. How did that happen? For starters, the Chinese government was deluged with outcries from the nation's 46 million Internet users when access to Google was cut off. "Internet users in China are an apolitical crowd," says Xiao Qiang, executive director of New York-based Human Rights In China. "They tend to be people who are doing well, and they don't usually voice strong views. But this stepped into their digital freedom." The quick workaround: Chinese authorities tweaked the national firewall, making the new Google China different from the site that was turned off. Today, Chinese who use Google to search on terms like "falun gong" or "human rights in china" receive a standard-looking results page.
Jury awards $350,000 in Blacksburg triathlon lawsuit
A Montgomery County jury late Tuesday night awarded $350,000 to a woman involved in a crash that killed a bicyclist during a Blacksburg triathlon more than seven years ago. Sharon Knight, a Blacksburg resident, had filed a civil lawsuit against the town and the director of the third annual Greater Blacksburg Triathlon, claiming they were negligent in failing to warn passing motorists of the race course. Triathlon participant Gary Wayne Taylor, a 30-year-old sports promoter from Lynchburg, died midway through the June 18, 2000, competition after his bicycle crashed into Knight's car. Knight was heading to church east on Southgate Drive toward Lane Stadium about 9 a.m. that morning when Taylor crashed into the side of her car at the intersection with Tech Center Drive.
PPP hope lies with 3rd generation Bhuttoists
KARACHI: The chehlum or day to mark the end of a forty-day mourning period attracted droves of Benazir Bhutto supporters to Bilawal House Thursday but not all of them were people who had necessarily seen her in person.
For example, 12-year-old Tanveer Raza, who arrived with his paternal grandmother Zainab Sanghar, was a member of the third generation of his family to become a Bhuttoist. [For us,] Benazir Bhutto is a source of inspiration, said his grandmother, a resident of Moosa Lane, Lyari, known as a PPP stronghold. Eight-year-old Kumail, another new generation Bhuttoist, came with his grandmother, Noor Jehan Akram.
These families have been with the Pakistan Peoples Party for the last 30 years since the days of the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the party.
Interim process may get tricky
At 9 a.m. on Feb. 20, Scott Moore and Paul Pinkston will be two of 11 Knox County commissioners making interim appointments for 12 vacant county offices. Thirty minutes later, a Knox County chancellor will begin hearing arguments over whether they should be allowed to do so. Sixteen plaintiffs, including one who's vying for one of the interim appointments, want to oust Moore and Pinkston from office, and they're asking Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler to suspend the commissioners until the ouster suit is decided. They claim that Moore, who resigned last week as commission chairman, and Pinkston lied under oath when testifying during last year's trial that found commissioners violated the state Open Meetings Act the first time they made appointments in January 2007. Other grounds for ouster, the plaintiffs contend, include violating the sunshine law and Moore's seeking the advice of an outside lawyer in making appointments.
More: james blunt , Petra Nemcova
James Blunt tells British GQ that his sister couldn't get to Ireland so his solution was to sell her on eBay. He says: "I came back to the flat where my sister was staying and she was crying because she couldn't get to a funeral in Ireland. The planes were on strike, the ferry was out of season, and there were no trains. I ended up whacking it on eBay: 'Damsel in distress seeks knight in shining armor! Desperate to get to a funeral in southern Ireland, please help!' The bids flooded in and the guy who won had a helicopter. He flew her to the funeral. That was three years ago. This summer they're getting married. That was the stupidest thing I've ever sold on eBay – my sister." And just to remind you why we hate James Blunt, here are pictures of Petra Nemcova, whom he somehow managed to date.
ACTU pleads for rate rise amnesty
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is being urged to consider the plight of working families when deciding whether to increase interest rates this week. Analysts say higher than expected December quarter inflation figures and solid domestic demand give the RBA a strong case to increase interest rates at its board meeting in Sydney tomorrow. If the bank's board does decide to raise rates, they will be at their highest level in 12 years. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says low and middle income families cannot afford another rise, and the RBA should hold rates at current levels until the full impact of the global financial situation becomes clearer. ACTU president Sharan Burrow says many families already have their finances stretched to the limit by mortgages, credit cards and other loans, and the RBA should look at other economies.
Ready to race in OBX today?
Steve Sedgwick is not an elite athlete. He has run 13.1 miles only once. He plans to do it again Sunday, this time in the Gateway Bank Half Marathon on the Outer Banks. He won't be dressed like the other runners, though. Sedgwick plans to sport a long-sleeved T-shirt that says "Blind Guy." That's because he is. The vision problems started in childhood and got progressively worse through the years, said Sedgwick, a 49-year-old from Vienna. He had to stop driving in 2003. By 2005, he couldn't see to read or work anymore. These days he has only peripheral vision in his right eye. Exercise, and lots of it, Sedgwick said doctors told him, would help stave off total blindness. He swam and lifted weights. But he needed a partner if he was going to run.
Cites rules for bicyclists when riding on sidewalks
(a) A person propelling a bicycle upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, shall yield the right of way to any pedestrian and shall give audible signal before overtaking and passing such pedestrian. (b) A person shall not ride a bicycle upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, where such use of bicycles is prohibited by official traffic-control devices. (c) A person propelling a bicycle upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances. If riding on sidewalks was illegal, these rules would be not only unnecessary but also illogical. Why have rules that govern how to carry out an illegal activity? Theodore J.
ID for body parts found 15 years ago
DNA technology has been used to identify the remains of a man whose body parts were found at three different sites in Sydney 15 years ago. A truck driver found the torso of the man identified today as father-of-three Wayne Robert Chant, 47, in 1992, in Sydney's south. His legs and left arm were found days later at two other sites across southern Sydney but the man's hands, right arm and head have never been found. NSW Police homicide squad commander Geoff Beresford said advances in DNA techniques had finally confirmed the man's identity. A targeted homicide investigation could now get underway, he said in a statement. "As a result of innovations in DNA technology, the remains have recently been identified through comparison with a sample supplied by Mr Chant's late mother," Det Supt Beresford said.
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