Great Firewall of China

As internet censorship in China becomes more sophisticated and crackdowns on pro-democracy bloggers have been well publicised, find out if your website has inadvertently (or intentionally) offended the authorities in China.

Is your website blocked in China? The earleyedition is! Try it out at now:

Great Firewall of China

Tiger

Tiger Airways has said they’re going to stir up some competition in Australia by entering the low-cost carrier market here.

Already famous in Southeast Asia for $1 airfares, it will be interesting to see what they offer in Australia. They already offer flights from Darwin (and now Perth) to Singapore, and then from Singapore to destinations in Thailand, China, Vietnam and The Philippines.

Admittedly their advertised online fares don’t include taxes, but you can still end up flying from Singapore to Phuket for only about AUD $45.

Since I was last at their site a few months ago it looks like a lot of fares have gone up but, when worked out then, you could get yourself to Darwin on an Australian domestic carrier and then take Tiger Airways to Singapore for about $600 less than what was being advertised for flights direct to Singapore from Brisbane or Sydney. With that in mind, having access to Tiger’s low fares within Australia would increase those savings, since they generally under-cut their competition by up to 60%.

Flying Tiger’s ready to roar – The Australian.

Bombs in Bali?

I put a question mark there because, as AP (via CNN) is reporting, the police spokesman says they just don’t know. That said, simultaneous explosions in tourist resort areas would be a strong indicator of planned bombs. Terrorist attacks.

• LOCATION: Bali, Indonesia
  • Jimbaran Beach – at least three explosions, one reportedly close the Four Seasons Hotel
  • Kuta – 18km from Jimbaran, one explosion reported in shopping centre.
• WHAT:
  • Reports 2 dead, many more injured at this point.
  • Rajas restaurant in Kuta was filled with diners, both storeys badly damaged

This is just going to get bigger, and I won’t be able to keep up with it. Hope it’s not so bad… over and out.

Bali explosions

None of the TV news has shown anything yet, but CNN.com reported 10 minutes ago about simultaneous explosions in Bali.

UPDATE: CNN link updated with comment by Indonesian police spokesman. BBC also with brief story although both are taken from AP

UPDATE: BBC’s behind the game. CNN has already updated this AP story four times in the last 20 minutes, including quotes from police and witnesses.

UPDATE: Well, BBC has added a map and not much else, except a form at the bottom asking for ‘citizen journalists’ (my words, not theirs) to submit, well, let me quote:

Did you witness the explosions? Send us your eywitness accounts. If you have images please send them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk

CNN, meanwhile, is running with it.

Following on from the last post…on the Reporters Sans Frontieres (reporters without borders) website there is a story, and a 30 page report in the form of a PDF document on the US Army’s firing on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, April 8, 2003.

For all my Singaporean journalism friends, there’s also a little bit on Predators of Press Freedom, of which your Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong is listed as one!