"China is not on the Internet, it's basically an intranet. Everything is banned by the Great Firewall," says Sherman So, co-author of "Red Wired: China's Internet Revolution." With 338 million Internet users in June 2009, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China is no longer a niche market of the online industry. Chinese is the second most common language on the Internet, according to The Economist, and quickly gaining ground on English. As the former technology writer ...

A military helicopter crashed Friday in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 26 security personnel on board, the Pakistani military said. A Marine source described the fighting Thursday evening as "our most significant encounter." Sporadic fighting took place over several hours in the southeastern sector of Garmser district, said Pelletier, spokesman for the Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan. Helmand province, a poppy-growing region, is the focus of the military push called Operation Khanjar. Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's opium, ...

U.S. Marines on Friday continued to lead a major push against militants in southern Afghanistan in an attempt to rout the Taliban from their stronghold in Helmand province, Marine Capt. William Pelletier said. A Marine source described the fighting Thursday evening as "our most significant encounter." Sporadic fighting took place over several hours in the southeastern sector of Garmser district, said Pelletier, spokesman for the Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan. Helmand province, a poppy-growing region, is the focus of the ...

Civilians continued to flee Pakistan's northwest in droves Monday as government troops prepared to engage Taliban militants in the crisis-hit Swat Valley. More than 360,000 Pakistanis have fled their homes since May 2, the United Nations has reported. "Obviously more people are on the move," said Ariane Rummery, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights commissioner. "Not everyone is registered." Thousands of vehicles fled Swat Valley on Sunday, where up to 15,000 Pakistani troops are preparing to move against approximately ...

Jewels Morris-Davis is a no-nonsense kind of girl. When the high school sophomore turned 16 recently, she didn't celebrate with any My Super Sweet 16 foolishness. Nor did she rush to get her driver's license and race around the back roads in this rural northwest corner of South Carolina. But Jewels did quietly revel in one achievement. "I am," she says a few weeks later, a proud smile spreading across her face, "the first person in my family to reach ...

The Israeli tennis player refused an entry visa to Dubai has told CNN she is "very, very disappointed" to have been denied the opportunity to play. Shahar Peer was due to fly into the United Arab Emirates for the start of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Sunday, but was informed on Saturday night by telephone that she wouldn't be granted a visa. She had just finished playing in the Pattaya Open in Thailand, where she reached the semi-final. "They really ...