Group items tagged

first official clampdown on a local site

went against the government's promise not to censor the internet.

The sister city relationship with Osaka was the first that Melbourne established.

A strong and beneficial sister port relationship already existed (established in 1974) between the Port of Osaka and the Port of Melbourne.

However, the sister city relationship was not formally established until 24 April 1978 at a ceremony in Osaka attended by the Lord Mayor. The stated aim at the time was to establish 'a people-to-people relationship with the aim of developing mutual friendships and a lasting and understanding relationship'.

CHINESE hackers have attacked the Melbourne International Film Festival website in an intensifying campaign against the screening of a documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

The hackers replaced festival information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans

"It is obviously a concerted campaign to get us because we've refused to comply with the Chinese Government's demands."

was on a "private humanitarian mission,"

North Korea rejected the administration's first choice for the trip -- former vice president Al Gore, who co-founded the television channel that employs the journalists --

special pardon

A DIPLOMATIC row between Australia and China

with Australia’s ambassador called to a dressing-down by China’s Foreign Ministry.

Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told Mr Raby that Australia must ‘‘immediately correct its wrongdoings’’ and cancel Ms Kadeer’s visa

THE Melbourne International Film Festival has it all: dramas involving officials from foreign governments, larger than life characters sticking to matters of principles whatever the consequences and the struggles for liberation.

documentary about Rebiya Kadeer

subsequently three Chinese films were withdrawn.

To coincide with the opening of Tomorrow City in Incheon, Federation Square will engage in a world first interactive screen broadcast with Korea. The first event will feature a program of official representation from both cities including: poetry, literature and screen-based artworks.

Victorian Premier John Brumby, a Masterchef and dogs catching Frisbees will all be at the Royal Melbourne Show on Thursday as the big event is officially opened.

A TRIP to India next week to promote Melbourne as a safe city has turned into a monumental challenge for John Brumby after another racist attack that has attracted fresh headlines and anti-Australian fury across India.

Two Indian men and another two of Indian origin say they were racially taunted and told to ''go back to your country'' before being kicked and punched by attackers who were part of a large birthday celebration at Legends Entertainment Centre. The Indian Government increased pressure on Australia last night over the ''recurring attacks'' on its citizens. It called on authorities to ''take all necessary steps towards the safety and security of Indians''. Indian consular officials in Melbourne were also ordered to investigate.

One of the victims, Sukhdip Singh, 26, had been in Australia just one month. A relative said he had suffered head and facial injuries and wanted to return to India immediately. His uncle, Mukhtiar Singh, 45, also a victim, said Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard's recent assurance to India's Foreign Minister that Australia was safe for Indian students rang hollow. ''I used to say the same thing … now I would say Melbourne is worse than a Third-World country, violence-wise,'' Mr Singh told The Age. Recalling Saturday's incident, he said his nephew was taunted with verbal abuse and racial slurs in the bar before they were later set upon in the car park by about 20 people. ''I have lived here for 22 years,'' Mr Singh said. ''I've got my own business here, my own house, my kids have grown up here. Why should I go back? We all come from somewhere.''

The United States, France and Britain have presented "detailed evidence" to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog that "Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility," President Obama said Friday.

Iran "is taking the international community on a dangerous path," Sarkozy said.

U.S. and French intelligence officials have known about the facility for several months, the source said. When Iran discovered that Western nations had knowledge of the facility, it sent the letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The G20 group of leading and emerging economies will take on a new role as a permanent body co-ordinating the world economy

more power to emerging economies, rather than to the developed powerhouses of the G8 group.

Senior EU officials later announced a deal to shift the balance of voting in the International Monetary Fund to benefit growing economies like China.

Concubines are no longer kept hidden away behind closed doors. In modern China's far more open society, concubines can be seen in the shopping malls and cafes of the cities, especially in the south, where there are thousands of what are known as "er nai" or "second breast".

"China's future will be undermined in those corrupt officials' hands," wrote one outraged citizen. Another described the corrupt cadres who keep concubines as "absolutely superfluous, vampires, corrupt scum. They deserve to be killed".

The Shanghai government, along with neighbouring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces

standardise signs and eliminate notoriously bad, and sometimes amusing, English translations.

A malfunctioning online translation tool may have helped a restaurant named "Translate server error"