Sumner Lemon

A Chinese government official defended China's right to censor information on the Internet, and said no individual has been arrested for "just releasing a comment on the Internet," according to state media reports.

China's State Council, the country's highest bureaucratic body, has issued a set of regulations governing China's entertainment industry that ban the use of pirated products at entertainment venues.n

Just months after evidence emerged that Yahoo Inc. provided information that led to the arrest and imprisonment of Chinese journalist Shi Tao, the company is once again taking criticism for handing over information that allegedly led to the imprisonment of a Chinese political dissident.

Air China Ltd., in Beijing, has signed a deal with The Boeing Co.'s Connexion by Boeing to offer Internet access on some international flights. Under terms of the deal, Air China will offer the Connexion by Boeing in-flight Internet service on up to 15 aircraft, Boeing said in a statement.

A German court has ruled that the sale of used software licenses is illegal in a case involving an Oracle Corp. subsidiary, the Redwood Shores, California, company said in a statement.

Human Rights In China (HRIC), a nonprofit organization, has called on Google Inc. to rethink its decision to offer a censored version of its search engine in China, telling the company it is "not too late for corporate leadership."

Dell Inc. Thursday announced the opening of a centre in Penang, Malaysia, that will provide support to enterprise computing and storage customers in South Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The number of Chinese Internet users reached 111 million as of Dec. 31, 2005, up from 94 million Internet users one year ago, according to a survey conducted by the Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which oversees the .cn top-level domain.