WASHINGTON — Politics without buzzwords is like sports without clichés, math without numbers or Blago without bleeps. Tough to imagine, in other words, especially in such a game-changer of a campaign year in which buzzwords were flying like shoes.
Buzzwords are what political wiseguys use to sound all important and knowing in a profession whose prime currency is the illusion of being both. They are like secret passwords for the chattering class, the verbal equivalent of a terrorist fist jab.
HONG KONG — Chinese authorities have begun blocking access from mainland China to the Web site of The New York Times even while lifting some of the restrictions they had recently imposed on the Web sites of other media outlets.
When computer users in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou tried to connect on Friday morning to nytimes.com, they received a message that the site was not available; some users were cut off on Thursday as early as 8 p.m. The blocking was still in effect on Saturday morning.
Microsoft is rushing out a software update for its Internet Explorer web browser, after security experts warned that millions of computer users could have their PCs ‘hijacked’ by hackers.
By Claudine Beaumont
Opera, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Flock are five alternative web browsers to Internet Explorer
Prolonged sinus symptoms could be a sign of cancer
Eveline Gan eveline@mediacorp.com.sg
For most people, a blocked or mildly stuffy nose is probably not a cause for concern.
But when 72-year-old retiree, Mr Chong - who preferred to be known only by his surname - began experiencing sinus symptoms, instinct told him that “something was not right”.
“I also found tiny traces of blood when I blew my nose. This made me suspicious,” said Mr Chong, who added that he has always been particular about his health. His suspicion was spot-on.
BEIJING: Local officials in Shandong Province have apparently found a cost-effective way to deal with gadflies, whistleblowers and all manner of muckraking citizens who dare to challenge the authorities: dispatch them to the local psychiatric hospital.
According to an investigative report published Monday by a state-owned newspaper, public security officials in Xintai city have been institutionalizing residents who persist in their personal campaigns to expose corruption or to protest the unfair seizure of their property. Some people said they were committed up to two years, and several of those interviewed said they had been forced to consume psychiatric medication.
