CHINA BLOCKS TWITTER, WORDPRESS, YOUTUBE, HOTMAIL etc.

One of my favorite sites, MASHABLE-The Social Media Guide, announced that of today, the Chinese authorities have blocked internet access to Twitter, Flickr (Flickr reviews), Bing, Live.com, Hotmail.com and several other sites. Wordpress (WordPress reviews), YouTube (YouTube reviews), Blogger (blogger reviews) are also blocked.

According to early reports on Twitter (Twitter reviews) and on blogs it seems that the Chinese authorities want to quiet down the entire major social networking and social media part of the web ahead of the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen massacre on June 4th.

For advice and more information in this article written by Stan Schroeder, please CLICK HERE.

Can you imagine they also blocked RSS feeds too? Please read this fantastic article by Jacqui Cheng on how China's great firewall has turned its attention on RSS feeds.

Extracted from that article:

"As many readers who follow the antics of the Chinese government know, when it comes to enforcing the "Great Firewall of China," consistency isn't exactly its strong point. While certain phrases, concepts, and entire web sites are regularly blocked from reaching the eyeballs of many Chinese Internet surfers, things like high traffic are enough to let a number of forbidden concepts slip through. And then there's the indecision of China's Public Security Bureau (PSB), which has blocked certain sites (such as Blogspot and Wordpress blogs) on and off for some time now, and enforces the blocks inconsistently between provinces. For a One True China, there are certainly many interpretations of what is and isn't allowed through the country's cyber connection.

Savvy Internet fans in the people's republic have known for a long time, however, that there have been simple ways to get forbidden information. One of those ways was the magical gift of Real Simple Syndication, or RSS. The Great Firewall can block specific web sites all it wants, but as long as there's an RSS feed, many Chinese surfers can use feeds to access otherwise forbidden information.

Unfortunately, China appears to have finally gotten wise to RSS as of late—reports have been popping up from our readers and around the web of not being able to access FeedBurner RSS feeds as early as August of this year. More recent reports tell us that the PSB appears to have extended this block to all incoming URLs that begin with "feeds," "rss," and "blog," thus rendering the RSS feeds from many sites—including ones that aren't blocked in China, such as Ars Technica—useless.

So what is a feed-deprived Internet user in China to do? Well, there are a few workarounds, some of which may be simpler than others. Some of our readers in China tell us that web-based feed aggregators, such as NewsGator Online, (sort of) help provide access to RSS feeds."

For more, please CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.

In another article written by Mark Hopkins at THIS LINK, China has also blocked CNN News too!! For more on that news, please CLICK HERE.

I am putting up this post because of the advice given and we better KIV these pointers just in case......if you can get my drift....

MANSOR WINS SO WHAT IS THE WRITING ON THE WALL?

As expected by many, unofficial results coming from Penanti seem to show that PKR's Mansor Othman is heading for a whopping victory in the by-election.

Well, this by-election has certainly made headlines in a different way.

Firstly, it is historically the only election with such a low turnout of only 46.15%. Statistically, out of a total of 15,384 registered voters in the constituency, a total of 7,100 people had cast their votes.

At the point of typing this post, counting is taking place in ten polling districts - Guar Perahu, Kuala Mengkuang, Telok Wang, Mengkuang, Sungai Lembu, Penanti, Kubang Ulu, Sungai Semambu, Tanah Liat and Berapit Road.

According to unoffical statistics compiled by Penang PKR, with about 40 percent of votes counted so far - PKR's Mansor Othman had 6,052 votes while Nai Khan Ari won 494 votes while our infamous Madam-Record-Every-Conversation-Aminah Abdullah miraculously managed to secure 392 ( I expected a double digit figure!!!) while Kamarul Ramizu Idris secured 56 votes.

In the 2008 elections, the Election Commission announced a 82.13% voter turnout.

Secondly, it is the only election with tight security and deployed Light Strike Force units armed with batons and shields outside the polling centres where most voters trickled in.

Any ordinary citizen would probably opine that such heavy police presence is quite ridiculous, incurring unnecessary expenses and can be perceived as scaring would-be voters from coming out to vote and also defying international norms.

Thirdly, the Aminah CD distribution of allegations of recorded conversations obviously did not convince voters to vote for her and instead, transformed her into a comedy act.

Fourthly, campaigners may have to be watchful about what they say during ceramahs if we take into consideration what has happened to MP Lim Kit Siang and MP Gobalakirshnan who are being investigated by the cops regarding what they said during their speeches.

PKR may have won this battle but the sad news is, there is a bigger battle to be fought and the outlook seems to be quite dismal. It is now up to the rakyat and the parliamentarians and elected assemblymen to rise to the occasion. A new strategy, a new approach and more caution and wisdom are definitely needed. What say you?

JAYA SUPERMARKET COLLAPSES IN PJ

Various online news portals reported the collapse of the Jaya Supermarket building in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. The building was being torn down for redevelopment, collapsed this evening when demolition operations went awry this afternoon injuring an unspecified number of people in the busy commercial district.

According to reporters on the scene, the building is now teetering dangerously with bits and pieces still falling off. A twitter flash update from Malaysian Insider at about 7.30pm said that at least four are dead and another 50 workers are believed to be still trapped inside. The Nut Graph reported that there are five excavators found among the rubble and police dogs are being used to search the wreckage. It also reported that all the workers at the site are Indonesians.




Photos taken from THIS LINK

The STAR reported that Fire and Rescue Department personnel managed to pull out two workers and rushed them to Universiti Hospital. Both are reportedly in stable condition. Other workers are being examined by several medics on the scene.
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Picture above shows rescue workers within security cordon at the site of the collapse. Taken from THIS LINK.

Witnesses said that they saw ambulances have been rushing the injured to the nearby Universiti Hospital.

The Malaysian Insider reported that a worker who got out safely thinks as many as four people may have been killed and a further 50 or so may be trapped in the rubble.

While rescue workers are busy at the scene, the police have mounted a security cordon to keep away curious onlookers.

Ironically, the swaying building is located in an area close to a residential area. The police and the Fire and Rescue Deparment are currently ascertaining whether residents need to be vacated.

Built in 1974, the building was originally called the Jaya Shopping Centre. In fact, it was one of the first supermarkets in Petaling Jaya that survived the many facets of development until now.

Before the introduction of bigger shopping malls in the Klang Valley, Jaya Shopping Centre was one of the few lifestyle centres in Petaling Jaya Across the road, there are several new developments that have also taken up former tenants who moved out last year when it was closed down for redevelopment.

In the early 1990's, this building was embroiled in a controversy when it built a 10-storey car park extension, four storeys higher than allowed by the building plans approved by the then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ).

The building has four storeys of retail units plus a tower block of office units and a multi-level car park.

Search and rescue operations are still being carried out to locate missing personnel trapped in the building.
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*The latest update by Nut Graph at 8.30p.m. says that two workers have been rescued, one died and six are still trapped in the rubble.

*Another update by The Malaysian Insider at 10.15p.m. confirmed that two workers were killed and five others are still trapped in the rubble.

Visiting the scene, Housing And Local Government Deputy Minister, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin said the building might have collapsed because it was overloaded, adding that there were eight excavators inside, one of which still had its engine still running. (Extracted from The Malaysian Insider)