Nigerian militants claim pipeline blast, tanker crew’s seizure

Nigerian militants said Monday they had blown up an oil pipeline and captured six crew members of a chemical tanker. The crowd of 200 to 300 — mostly women and elderly — quickly formed as local authorities were taking members of the media on a tour of a neighborhood that was heavily damaged during riots over the weekend, witnesses said.

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Fresh protests follow Uyghur crackdown

Several hundred people staged a new protest in Urumqi on Tuesday, demanding the release of relatives detained in connection with weekend demonstrations by ethnic Uyghur residents in China’s far western Xinjiang region.. The crowd of 200 to 300 — mostly women and elderly — quickly formed as local authorities were taking members of the media on a tour of a neighborhood that was heavily damaged during riots over the weekend, witnesses said

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Iran frees British embassy worker, leaving 1 jailed

Iran has released a British embassy staffer, leaving one of the embassy’s local staff in jail, the Foreign Office in London said Monday. “We are confirming that one of our staff remains in detention,” a Foreign Office representative told CNN, declining to be named, in line with British government policy. “It remains our top priority to get all our staff freed.” A leading Iranian cleric said Friday that the remaining British embassy staffer could be tried for inciting unrest in the wake of Iran’s disputed June 12 presidential election

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Report: Iran to prosecute satellite TV contributors

In another move to crack down on information flowing out of Iran, the Islamic Republic’s judicial chief has ordered the prosecution of individuals "who cooperate with satellite television programming providers," a reformist newspaper reported Sunday. “The individuals, who in any way collaborate with these networks or are entrenched in the nucleus of organizations which are active through Internet sites, must be adequately and properly subject to legal actions

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Twittering from the tractor: smartphones sprout on the farm

As he rolls across the wheat fields of his Nebraska farm, Steve Tucker often has his hands not on the wheel of his tractor, but on a smartphone. He sometimes posts a dozen messages per day on Twitter, commenting on everything from the weather to the state of his crops to his son’s first tractor ride and even last night’s cheeseburger.

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China restricts ‘virtual’ economies

As Internet-based economies edge closer to their real-world counterparts, one country is apparently trying to build a wall between the two. China has announced new rules that prevent “virtual currencies” like Linden Dollars and QQ coins from being traded for real cash.

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