Google is sued by Chinese author Mian Mian

A Beijing judge has told the Chinese novelist Mian Mian, who is suing Google over its plan to create an online library, to hold settlement talks.

After a two-hour hearing, the court ordered both sides to talk but did not set a deadline for reporting back, according to the author's lawyer.

She is seeking damages of 61,000 yuan ($8,950; £5,576) and a public apology.

The lawsuit was filed in October after Google scanned one of Mian Mian's books, Acid House, into its library.

Google said it had removed the book as soon as it learned of the lawsuit, but had no further comment on the case.

Mian Mian writes risque novels - including titles such as Panda Sex and Candy - about China's underworld of sex, drugs and nightlife. Most of her work is banned in China.

She is not alone in complaining about copyright issues raised by Google's online library. The China Written Works Copyright Society is also looking for compensation for other Chinese authors whose work is included in the project.

In France, a court ordered Google to stop digitising French books without the publisher's approval. The search engine was also told to pay 300,000 euros ($430,000; £268,000) in damages and interest to French company La Martiniere, which had sued for copyright infringement for scanning book excerpts.

In the US, Google agreed a $125m settlement with American authors and publishers - although this is still waiting for final court approval.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Heya ma all Friends !!!!



Happy Merry Christmas to awl of yew !!!

Merry Christmas 2009

Pope Benedict gives Christmas message after assault

Pope Benedict has delivered his traditional Christmas message at the Vatican, hours after a woman vaulted a barrier and knocked him to the ground.

The Pope spoke in a firm voice in front of thousands of pilgrims, appearing undaunted by the earlier incident.

He said the Church was a "source of unity" for many people across the world and called for those in conflict zones to show respect for one another.

The Vatican said the woman who jumped at the Pope had been taken to hospital.

Vatican officials said she appeared to be mentally unstable, and that she had attempted to get to the Pope at the same event last year.

French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, who was standing a few metres away, fell and broke his hip during the incident.

Multi-lingual address

The assault took place as the pontiff was about to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica.

The BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says the Vatican is trying its best to play down the incident.

Pope Benedict spoke for about 30 minutes before leaving the podium

But our correspondent says the Pope's security is a very difficult issue as the pontiff has to interact with the congregation and many Catholics would be angry if he was only ever seen from behind a screen.

As he emerged on to the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square, the Pope seemed unsteady on his feet, but did not waver during his message or prayers.

The 82-year-old pontiff made no mention of the incident during his Christmas message.

Instead he focused on the world's needy and praised the work of the Church in places like the Philippines, Korea and Sri Lanka.

He said there should be an "attitude of acceptance and welcome," for "all those who migrate from their homelands and are driven away by hunger, intolerance or environmental degradation".

The Pope deplored the continuing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spoke of the problems facing people in Madagascar, Guinea, Niger and Honduras.

He urged people to "abandon every logic of violence and vengeance and engage with renewed vigour and generosity in the process which leads to peaceful coexistence".

He then wished pilgrims a happy Christmas in 65 languages - drawing delighted cheers from the crowd.

Twitter hacked by "Iranian Cyber Army"

We’ve received multiple tips right around 10 pm that Twitter was hacked and defaced with the message below. The site was offline for a while.

We’re looking into this and awaiting on a response from Twitter.

>The message read:

Iranian Cyber Army

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY

iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST ;)
Take Care.

> Google was showing the below briefly when doing a search for Twitter. The translation from Farsi/Persian reads:

“In the name of God, As an Iranian this is a reaction to Twitter’s interference sly which was U.S. authorities ordered in the internal affairs of my country…”

Sum Thin About The Owner Of Blog

heya,

I m James Peter, A Student Of Hardvard University in USA ( United States Of AMERICA ) .... N The Purpose of This Blog Is To Stay Conected With Ma Friend !!! Hey Friends Keep Ma Blog Update!!!